


of phoenixes, broomsticks, and fall(ing for you)

by lyssa_kei



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Hogwarts AU, Hufflepuff Park Chanyeol, Implied Relationships, M/M, Quidditch shenanigans, Slytherin Byun Baekhyun
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-09
Updated: 2020-01-09
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:53:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 31,785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22181365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lyssa_kei/pseuds/lyssa_kei
Summary: Baekhyun has enough on his plate being the Head Boy and star player of the Slytherin Quidditch team, but his last fall term at Hogwarts has a lot more planned for him than he'd thought.Including but not limited to: a phoenix, Quidditch shenanigans, strange feelings, and an overgrown Hufflepuff who seems to be at the center of them all.
Relationships: Byun Baekhyun/Park Chanyeol, Kim Jongdae | Chen/Kim Minseok | Xiumin - implied, Kim Jongin | Kai/Oh Sehun - implied
Comments: 25
Kudos: 263
Collections: Round 3: Autumn and Winter - On the Snow





	of phoenixes, broomsticks, and fall(ing for you)

**Author's Note:**

> written for the 2019 Winter Seasonal fest  
> prompt #674, Baekhyun believed autumn was a time for falling leaves, not falling for tall cute giants.
> 
> first off, I'm really sorry this is late, my apologies and gratitude to all the seasonal mods.
> 
> second, I'm so sorry to whoever prompted this, you said "go wild" but I have absolutely no clue what "go wild" entails and I'm really sorry if I didn't do this prompt justice.
> 
> third, pls enjoy

There must have been some reason for the hotshot Slytherin to start paying attention to the Hufflepuff he’d previously never had a relationship with, but the two wizards in question have differing opinions. 

Chanyeol says it was his devilishly handsome face, as well as the rivalry they’d always had in Quidditch. Baekhyun says he always knew who Chanyeol was, he just never thought to pay more attention to him than necessary. Baekhyun says that without the phoenix, he’d never even have been interested in Chanyeol. Chanyeol pretends offense.

In any case, it starts with Baekhyun slipping on leaves and grass, wet from morning dew and the last night’s rain. It starts with him nearly falling, only to be caught around the waist by an arm that pulled him upright so easily - so effortlessly. He knows the scent of this person, familiar the way they only can be after years of spending time with each other. 

Park Chanyeol.

Baekhyun freezes up at the touch on his waist, but it’s gone in a moment, and the hand moves up to his shoulder as Chanyeol steadies him. Around them, noise alerts Baekhyun to the whispering and staring students. Chanyeol must notice them too, because he fidgets under the stares of the students milling about. But there’s something different about the way he moves, nervous tension in his body like he wants to sprint for something.

"You okay?" Chanyeol asks, but he doesn't quite look like he's bursting to know the answer. He looks like he needs to run somewhere but he’s staying just to be polite. Baekhyun dusts himself off and nods. 

“Yeah, thank you.”

A brief, awkward pause. Chanyeol looks down at the badge on Baekhyun’s chest and smiles a little. “I didn’t get to congratulate you yesterday. Head Boy, huh?”

“Yeah,” Baekhyun smiles slightly. “Thanks.”

And then, to be merciful, he offers Chanyeol a way out; “You look busy.”

Chanyeol gives him another smile, and maybe it has a bit of an apology in it. This is the first time they’ve seen each other since the year began and normally they’d exchange quick greetings before rushing off to classes and their own groups of friends, but Baekhyun doesn’t blame him for wanting to hurry to wherever he needs to be. They’re seventh years now. Of course they’re busy.

“See you around, Park.”

“Yeah.” Chanyeol smiles a little again. “See you.”

Baekhyun watches him adjust the strap of his satchel and leave the area with more interest than usual. For a moment he wonders if Chanyeol had been acting strangely, but he thinks nothing of it. They had the Grand Feast yesterday after all, maybe he ate something that didn’t sit well in his stomach.

“Hey, was that Chanyeol?” A voice chirps up beside him, and Baekhyun turns to see Jongdae, staring back at Chanyeol’s retreating form. “He really isn’t used to the attention, is he. You’d think by the way he plays Quidditch that he’d be far more arrogant.”

Baekhyun nods. Because it’s true; despite Chanyeol’s bumbling, awkward kindness outside the Quidditch field, when he’s playing he’s a different person. Confidence rolls off him as he tears through the wind and other players, eyes on the goal and only the goal.

“It’s only been two years since he’s been chased by the entire school,” Baekhyun says, shrugging, “it’s a big change to get used to.”

But it had also been strange, the expression on Chanyeol's face. He's normally smiling all the time, no matter what the situation is. Said smile hadn’t been on Chanyeol’s face today. He’d looked so - distracted. Worried. 

“Say,” Jongdae interrupts his thoughts, “What were you two even doing together?”

Baekhyun blinks and shifts the books in his arms. “Nothing. We should get to class.”

Jongdae’s eyes are shrewd. "Are you sure?”

“It’s really nothing,” Baekhyun mutters.

And it is. He has Quidditch to train for, Head Boy duties to take care of, and since they’re seventh years now, the workload will get insane in an insanely short amount of time. He doesn't have time to be worrying about others. 

But Jongdae just scoffs at him.

The blue of Jongdae’s robes billow in the wind as he walks in front of Baekhyun, and it takes a beat for him to catch up.

“Whatever you say.”

  


  
Stretching his arms out in the air, Baekhyun lets out a long breath and comes back down to wrap his limbs around Jongdae.

"I'm so tired," he muffles into Jongdae's shoulder. "I feel like I can sleep for twenty hours straight."

Jongdae laughs. "The weekend is coming up soon, Baekhyun. Just two more days."

"I think my Advanced Arithmancy professor is gonna give us a group project next week," Baekhyun says, dropping his head down. "I'm going to go insane this year, Jongdae, really."

“You’re scaring the underclassmen,” Jongdae snips back at him.

They spend the rest of their first round in the basement and head up to the ground floor, but not before Baekhyun whines about classes and the workload for a solid ten minutes. Jongdae smacks him over the head and tells him the first years are staring, and Baekhyun dodges the hit and complains a bit more. Honestly, he thinks he's justified.

It’s only been three days since he got back to Hogwarts, but it feels like weeks have passed.

Baekhyun supposes it’s just another side-effect of being a seventh-year. Everything has started moving so quickly even though the year has barely just started; the workload has increased already, their teachers have begun to talk about NEWTS, and soon enough, all of them will have to meet up with their House Heads to discuss plans for the future and what NEWTS they have to take to go into their prospective fields.

He’s exhausted just thinking about it.

Being Head Boy also zaps his strength in ways that Baekhyun hadn’t anticipated. When he first got the letter announcing his position over the summer, his entire family had been overjoyed, and he’d shared his excitement with Jongdae and Junmyeon as well. But it’s only been three days since he’s taken up all the responsibilities, and he’s already half-considering asking to be removed from the position.

It had taken so much more time than Baekhyun had expected to make a functional schedule for the Prefects that worked with all their individual needs. Half of it is because Sehun’s snake - Coco - started scaring some of the other Prefects halfway through the meeting and caused a ruckus. Baekhyun had ended up having to tell Sehun to get Coco out. If snakes could make puppy eyes, he’s sure that Coco would have had the biggest one on his face.

On top of that, there had been a case of a young student under the impression that 'mudblood' was just a fun word to throw around at people, with had ended in a confused Ravenclaw and a crying Gryffindor and caused a general headache for everyone involved.

Even with the Head Girl helping with planning and their split duties, it’s only now that he and Jongdae are alone on rounds that Baekhyun gets to breathe.

“I didn’t realize how hard it is to coordinate people,” Baekhyun mutters into Jongdae’s shoulder, clinging onto him as Jongdae drags him through the halls of the ground floor.

“You say that as if you don’t coordinate six people on a pitch,” Jongdae says, and shudders. “With formations and attack strategies. I still don’t get how you play Quidditch.”

Baekhyun’s just about to tell him dryly that at least he doesn’t have to memorize formula after formula of potions and how to alter them to fit different people’s needs, but a hoot at the window catches his attention and he turns to see his owl perched on the stone. 

“Hey, Bbeokku,” Baekhyun reaches out to let the snowy owl fly to his arm and grabs some of the treats he always has in his pocket, letting Bbeokku munch while he opens the letter the owl has attached to her leg. 

"Hey, Jongdae, it's a letter from Minseok,” Baekhyun says to get Jongdae's attention. “From the Auror Training Academy.”

“I’m surprised he has time to be writing.” Jongdae leans over Baekhyun’s shoulder to try getting a better look. “What does it say?”

Baekhyun tears the envelope. 

Minseok’s handwriting is easy to recognize, hardly changed over two years. A little messy and short, probably because of how busy he must be, but Baekhyun can’t begrudge him for it.

“Dear Jongdae and the brat,” Baekhyun reads, and snorts. “Jesus, could he be any less obvious about his bias?”

Jongdae rolls his eyes, steering Baekhyun around the corner with a hand on his elbow. “Keep reading.”

“Sorry I haven’t been able to write much the past few months,” Baekhyun continues.

_But training’s harder now and I haven’t had much time to do anything. I’ll be out for winter vacation in a few months though, and Junmyeon’s been asking to meet up with all of you soon too. We should make plans for Christmas. Have you guys thought of a prank for this year yet, by the way? Remember -_

“Always get rid of the evidence,” Jongdae and Baekhyun say together, and they both laugh. They’d heard it so much from Minseok that it’s become almost a mantra.

_Baekhyun, I know you’ve told me that you aren’t sure what to do later on, but let things happen as they happen. Always know that I’m only a Fireplace away. I’m sure Junmyeon and Yixing will spare time for you as well, if you choose to go to them. And Jongdae, I’m always rooting for you. You’ll be amazing as a Healer, and Yixing agrees with me. He’s waiting for you at St. Mungo’s. We’re all waiting for you._

_I miss you guys, and I miss Hogwarts too. It never gets easier, even though it’s been two years. But have fun. You’ll be graduating this year, and you should take advantage of everything Hogwarts offers. You don’t realize what you have until you don’t have it anymore. Meet new people and go to Hogsmeade instead of holing yourself up in the library. Or in your case, Baekhyun, flying around unauthorized for hours._

Jongdae nudges Baekhyun's side pointedly. Baekhyun ignores him.

_Am I nagging too much even though the year’s just started? I’ll cut it off now. I don’t want to sound like Junmyeon._

_But know all of us are always on your side._

Baekhyun’s voice softens. “Love, Minseok.”

Baekhyun looks up and smiles when he catches the expression Jongdae is wearing.

“You really miss him, huh,” he prods gently. Jongdae shakes his head.

“It’s not his fault he’s busy. I just wish we could meet a little more often.”

“It’s not too long until Christmas break,” Baekhyun says, handing Jongdae the letter. Jongdae looks over it for a moment before he folds it carefully and pockets it. “We’ll meet up with Minseok then. And Junmyeon and Yixing, too.”

Jongdae smiles. “I guess.”

There’s something else in the Ravenclaw’s expression that makes Baekhyun want to say more, but he holds himself back, wrapping an arm around Jongdae’s shoulders.

“Come on, let’s finish the rounds. I’m exhausted.”

  


  
Baekhyun thinks it’s fair for him to be skeptical that for some reason, Sehun would have gained a sudden interest in watching the Quidditch trials with Baekhyun when he’d refused the same offer the past five years. The only time he’d gone with Baekhyun was when he himself was the one trying out for the team.

“Are you sure,” Baekhyun deadpans, “that this has absolutely nothing to do with your Gryffindor coming to watch the tryouts with me every single year?”

Sehun’s cheeks flush slightly. Baekhyun is graceful enough not to mention it. He pats Sehun’s shoulder instead.

Baekhyun isn’t close with the Gryffindor Chaser Kim Jongin, but it’s become sort of an unspoken tradition between them to sit with each other during all the Quidditch trials they go to. Sometimes even Do Kyungsoo joins in. 

“Jongin likes chocolate,” Baekhyun offers.

“Sod off,” Sehun mutters.

Before they reach the pitch, Sehun’s held back by one of his classmates, a young Hufflepuff who asks him something in soft tones. Baekhyun tells Sehun that he’ll be on the bleachers and to get chocolates for Jongin, and consequently gets flipped off in the process. 

The trials haven’t started by the time he gets settled on one of the front rows. Baekhyun watches the captains as they talk to Madam Hooch, the nervous energy coming off the younger students who are trying out. Most of them are third years and fourth years, but there are a few second and fifth years, most of them fiddling with their brooms. 

Baekhyun leans forward a little and can’t help but smile.

He remembers when he’d tried out, a scrawny twelve-year old who no one expected to get on the team. 

He remembers the disbelief he’d been in when he got called as the official Chaser, too. 

The memories are still fresh in his mind, despite it having been five years. Every year after that, Baekhyun’s seen players both younger and older than him try out, some of them making it, some of them not, and the ones who have are now some of his most trusted teammates. He scans his eyes over the people trying out for Slytherin and wonders what kind of players he’ll see this season.

One of them catches his eye.

He's young, no doubt about it. If Baekhyun had to guess, he'd say the kid was a second-year. But there's something fierce in his eyes despite his age, despite being one of the smallest in the group. Maybe it's because the kid reminds Baekhyun of his own experience as a player, but he finds himself paying closer attention to him.

“Hey, hyung.”

Baekhyun jerks at the voice and looks away from the kid, but his smile fades as he takes in the person in front of him.

“What are you doing here?”

Jongin frowns in the adorable, confused way he always does. The Gryffindor looks particularly messy today, his hair looking like a bird’s nest and his clothes in a similarly roughened state. His tie is on the brink of slipping off. “I’ve sat next to you for years, hyung.”

Baekhyun shakes his head. “Not you.”

The figure behind Jongin smiles down at Baekhyun. “Hi, Baekhyun.”

_Park Chanyeol._

"What are you doing here?" Baekhyun asks, frowning. "You're Captain. Shouldn't you be down conducting trials?"

Chanyeol shrugs. "I wanted my next kid to get some experience with Captain duties." 

“Don’t tell me you’re scared of me learning about your new players?” Chanyeol asks when Baekhyun says nothing in return, taking the seat right next to him. Baekhyun forces himself to keep from sliding over. Park is distractingly close and the warmth seeps through wherever they’re touching and Baekhyun is just praying that Sehun comes back soon.

“As if.” Baekhyun manages a snort and turns away, glancing at Jongin quickly in the hopes that the younger student might jump into their conversation. But looking at the Gryffindor, he sees that the previous softness of Jongin’s eyes is completely gone, sharpened the way they only do when Quidditch is involved. He’s in the zone, Baekhyun recognizes. No point looking to him for help now. “Most of them won’t even be joining the official lineup for a year or two.”

In the corner of Baekhyun’s eye, he sees the Captains do rock paper scissors, probably trying to figure out the order of the tryouts and practice sessions. Gryffindor’s captain pumps her fist in the air. Baekhyun crosses his fingers and hopes that Slytherin wins the next round. If the practice slots get taken up by the others, they’ll most likely end up with the early morning training sessions. After going through it last year, Baekhyun’s decided he never wants to wake up at the crack of dawn for anything ever again, not even Quidditch.

Chanyeol hums. “How many new kids?”

Baekhyun hears his own Captain whoop loudly and breathes an inward sigh of relief. “And why should I answer that?”

“We’ll find out in a few week’s time anyway.”

“Can’t you guess?”

A gaggle of girls passes by them, Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors by the looks of it. A few of them giggle when they look their way while the others pause in their steps, and Baekhyun doesn’t know what irks him more, the fact that they clearly did a double-take seeing him with Park or the way they were making heart-eyes at the Hufflepuff. 

“Your Beaters are too good to be replaced," Chanyeol says, making Baekhyun focus on him again. "No question about the captain. I’d guess the most that could happen is gaining a younger Chaser or a few bench players.”

Baekhyun shrugs. Positions in Quidditch are always just a little unstable, if only because team dynamics and needs change for every match, every year. They might need certain strengths to fight one team and need completely different strategic fortes to fight another, but they can't switch off players for every single game. They don't have enough people and they wouldn't be able to build a stable team dynamic if they were rotating around that often.

So the only thing they can do is prepare. Even with the limited number of people, they need to try and be ready for anything that gets thrown their way. It means only the most versatile players can get a permanent position, because they’ll be the ones who are most suited to play with the team no matter who they’re going up against. 

“Who knows,” Baekhyun says at last. “Someone better than me could show up suddenly.”

He’s not too worried, but it could happen. It had happened, after all, a few years ago when Victoria was benched for Irene. 

“I doubt anyone could take over your position,” Chanyeol says. Baekhyun glances at him but sees no hint of a lie in his expression. “You always get the goal in.” And Baekhyun’s tempted to scoff, since it’s not true, he doesn’t always get the goal in, and it’s mostly because of Chanyeol, but he doesn't get to say any of that when Chanyeol speaks again.

“You’re the best Chaser I've ever played with."

The praise sounds different somehow, falling from Chanyeol’s lips. Baekhyun’s heard it before; from his captain, from Sehun, from Jongin, from Madame Hooch, too, but with Chanyeol it’s different.

Maybe - probably - it’s because their positions are so centered around each other. They’ve bickered the most out on the pitch, their House pride battling along with their egos. It doesn’t help that Slytherin and Hufflepuff have been, for as long as they’ve been at the school, the two top teams. They’ve always ended up competing for the Quidditch Cup. To be given this kind of acknowledgement by Chanyeol is - in one word, unnerving. A little strange, too.

Baekhyun had been an official Chaser for Slytherin since his second year. Chanyeol had only become the permanent player for Hufflepuff in his fifth. 

No one really noticed Chanyeol or expected much at first. He was always the bench player, always a little hidden behind his other teammates. It had been that way since the beginning. In first year, he’d been a round-faced boy with eyes that brimmed with wonder and joy, and all throughout their third year, he’d just been known as the kind, lanky Hufflepuff.

And then the first of his growth spurt hit. Chanyeol shot to the tallest of their class in fourth year, and then grew even _more_ over the years. Now he just towers over everyone.

(Baekhyun’s just a little bitter about it.)

A combined development that came with the growth spurt was Chanyeol losing some of his baby fat, lanky arms and legs getting muscled and more defined. His eyes had always been big and pretty, but it’s only after fifth year that girls started describing them as dreamy. 

In all honesty, Baekhyun had noticed him from the beginning. A soft muggle-born sorted into Hufflepuff the way he looked like he would be, giant ears protruding from either side of his face. Baekhyun had sat with him once in Charms during their first year. He remembers Chanyeol pointing at the magic their professor was demonstrating, saying how wonderful this all was, how fascinating. Having grown up with magic, Baekhyun didn’t understand much, but he’d tried. He had a smile that made it hard not to like him.

Still. He’d noticed Chanyeol, but he’d never really imagined that the chubby boy from first year would grow into his greatest rival on the Quidditch pitch. He still remembers Chanyeol nearly falling off his broom during their first shared Flying lesson, over six years ago.

Now, Baekhyun would even go as far as to say that Chanyeol is the best player in Hogwarts overall. He has the speed, the skills, the passion, the drive to win. And maybe more than anything else, Chanyeol has something that makes it hard not to cheer for him, Baekhyun included. He’s the type of player that manages to wrack up team morale, both his own and his opponents. Not that he’d ever say that out loud.

“You’re acting like they don’t say the same about you,” Baekhyun says lightly instead, “Everyone thought that the Hufflepuff team would mellow out without Hyoyeon.”

But if anything, they’re better now. Chanyeol being chosen as their next captain is one of the best things to have happened to the Hufflepuff team. Hyoyeon was amazing, but Chanyeol’s effect on them have done something else entirely; even Baekhyun’s pride can admit that.

The whistle blows, and Chanyeol doesn't get to answer. Gryffindor's trials are starting.

Baekhyun glances up as Sehun comes down to the bleachers. He’s clearly taken aback at the increase in company, and his brows furrow as he takes in Chanyeol and Baekhyun’s positions next to each other. After a moment’s hesitation, Sehun takes the seat to Jongin’s right but Jongin doesn’t even seem to notice, still absorbed in the players. Baekhyun also starts paying attention to the field.

Gryffindor doesn’t have any spots open at the moment, but they do take a bench Chaser and Seeker. Hufflepuff gets a promising fourth-year as a bench Beater, though Baekhyun thinks that the scrawny kid who tried out for Seeker also has potential. Ravenclaw takes two kids into the team straight away, as a Beater and a bench Keeper. Slytherin has so many players that they can only afford to take one more bench player, and Baekhyun feels a slight smile stretch his lips when the kid he'd been watching gets called up and bursts into happy tears. 

Playing Quidditch is hard. Waking up before the sun is hard. Coordinating with six other people in a fast paced, small field is draining and exhausting.

But it’s worth it in the end.

There’s a different type of nostalgia that hits Baekhyun now that he’s a seventh year, watching the new kids listen to the captains with such energy and motivation, such excitement in their eyes. 

Sehun and Jongin won’t understand, he knows, until they’re seventh years as well. Chanyeol though, seems to be thinking the same thing.

He smiles at Baekhyun as they’re rising from the stands, the trials over and evening settling over them with cooler airs and bells tolling for dinner. Baekhyun blinks at the sight. This is the first time he’s looked at Chanyeol properly today, and he wonders if he’s imagining the exhaustion on Chanyeol’s features. Are the dark circles under his eyes a trick of the light, a product of the dimming sky behind them?

"See you,” Chanyeol says as Baekhyun is considering asking, slinging an arm around Jongin’s shoulders. Baekhyun doesn’t get to reply as they head off, but he does catch Jongin nibbling on something that looks a lot like -

Baekhyun covers a laugh behind his fist and ignores Sehun’s glare. 

“So you did end up giving him chocolate,” he says, nudging Sehun’s side. “But a chocolate frog? Really?”

“It’s the only thing I had on me,” Sehun says, and Baekhyun snorts, even as his eyes trail Chanyeol’s disappearing form.

“Romantic.”

  


  
Baekhyun staggers out of the Slytherin Head's office and almost collapses into the wall.

Three hours.

That’s how long he’s been grilled about future goals and the possible fields that he can go into, the NEWTS he’d have to receive to go into those fields, and the other extracurriculars he’ll have to take. After the talk about his grades and resume was over, it was on to the different internship openings, the academies he could enroll in for a variety of jobs, the people he should contact depending on what exactly he wants to do.

Every time Baekhyun had opened his mouth, he was cut off only be assured that of course, he’d have time to think it over, he’d be able to pick and choose until as late as spring. Then, lectured on how he should make sure to de-stress every once in a while.

“But he also told me to focus on academics more and stop going out to fly so much?” Baekhyun exclaims, frustrated, “Sir, you’re telling me to make sure I’m not too stressed but you’re also telling me to not do the one thing that helps me de-stress?”

And it isn’t even as if Baekhyun is unused to this kind of talk. This entire summer has just been relatives taking turns trying to give him advice on what to do once he graduates from Hogwarts. Baekhyun still thinks it’s ridiculous, how people expect young witches and wizards to choose a path in life as early as seventeen. 

“You do need to find some other stress reliever than flying on a broomstick,” Jongdae says though, making Baekhyun frown. “You can’t rely on Quidditch to make you feel better forever.”

It’s said with a casual tone, but Baekhyun finds himself blinking back the hurt, the words jabbing at his pride as much as they take him aback.

Because it’s something he’s heard from teachers and family members alike, but it stings a little differently coming from Jongdae. Especially since the Ravenclaw already knows exactly what he wants to do and has the grades to back up his aspirations. Baekhyun scoffs and turns away. “Easy for you to say. You know what field you’re going into.”

Jongdae’s brows furrow. He seems to realize that he's struck something close to home, and Baekhyun immediately regrets his words. He knows what this will lead to, the all-too familiar conversation about his future and the things he could do with his talent. Baekhyun had heard it enough from his family. He doesn’t need it from his best friend, too. Jongdae, however, is far more gentle about the topic - at least more than Baekbeom, who’d bluntly stated, _‘If you can’t get the courage to pull your shit together soon, you’ll never be able to after you graduate.’_

“You could join me in some of my clubs,” Jongdae says carefully, “See if any of them are interesting.”

Baekhyun rolls his eyes at Jongdae’s efforts. “No offense Jongdae, I don’t want to do potions any more than I absolutely have to.”

“It’s not just potions,” Jongdae starts, but Baekhyun cuts him off with a look. 

“Your clubs are all geared for future Healers and potions makers,” Baekhyun says, “I’m not fit to do any of those things, you know that.”

“But if you just tried things out,” Jongdae tries again, “it’s better than doing nothing, Baekhyun. And you’re good at everything, I’m sure the professors would love to help you find some -”

Baekhyun gives him a rueful smile. “I don’t want to do something just because I’m good at it, I want to do something I really like. Otherwise there’s no point.”

Jongdae still looks like he wants to say something though, so Baekhyun loops an arm around Jongdae’s, poking Jongdae in the ribs, “Hey, let’s do a prank. We haven’t done one yet.”

Jongdae lets the subject go reluctantly. “Is that really a good idea?” Jongdae asks. “Baekhyun, you’re Head Boy now.”

"You didn’t really think that would stop me, did you?" Baekhyun replies, batting at Jongdae to keep him from being too loud. “It’s _tradition_ , Jongdae - we’ve done this since first year.”

“This is why people will celebrate the day we graduate,” Jongdae mutters, but a small smile is creeping up his lips. Baekhyun laughs. The little prank of theirs always manages to affect the entire school, and while it’s hardly a secret that they’re the ones behind it every year, no one can ever find the evidence for it. The two of them had gotten enough advice from Minseok on how to erase their tracks.

“Did you think of anything for this year yet?” Jongdae asks at last, seeming to have given up changing Baekhyun’s mind. "Just don't make it too messy, or else Sehun's going to kill you."

"Coco bit me because of how much Sehun hated the last one,” Baekhyun snorts. "I'll pass on that experience. But no, I haven’t gotten hit with any inspiration yet.”

Jongdae hums, “Well, as long as it doesn’t get us in trouble I’m good.”

"We've never gotten in trouble, and we won't…" Baekhyun trails off.

Sehun.

The idea comes to Baekhyun suddenly.

"Let's use chocolate frogs," Baekhyun says. He almost laughs at the expression of utter confusion on Jongdae’s face and wonders how much funnier Sehun’s would be when he realizes that their prank of the year is a token in his honor. “Make them turn into rubber snakes when someone touches them."

Jongdae raises a skeptical brow. “Where did this even come from?”

Baekhyun thinks about telling Jongdae that their last prank together in Hogwarts is just teasing Sehun about his crush on Jongin, then thinks better of it. “Nothing. It won't be that bad though, and the enchantment would last less than an hour anyway.”

Jongdae huffs.

“Fine, Byun, but you're the one figuring out the time and the location because if something goes off with the calculations like last time I swear to god -” Jongdae cuts off abruptly, blinking in confusion at something behind Baekhyun. He doesn’t need to turn around for Jongdae to voice the source of his sudden silence.

“Chanyeol?”

Baekhyun blinks.

Park Chanyeol.

Really, once today was enough.

He whirls around to face where Jongdae is looking and sees Chanyeol, looking like a deer in headlights despite being the one who walked in on the two of them scheming a prank for the entire school. It’s that very toddler-caught-making-trouble expression that has Baekhyun hesitating to snap at Chanyeol or demand if he’d been eavesdropping.

Which is also when he notices the part of the castle they’re in.

He and Jongdae are getting ready for rounds, but Chanyeol has absolutely no reason to be doing anything back here, on the opposite end of the castle from the Hufflepuff commons. And it’s almost curfew, too.

Baekhyun frowns at Chanyeol.

“What are you doing back here so late?”

For a moment, Chanyeol stares, but then he starts bullshitting an excuse, eyes flicking between Baekhyun and the wall behind him. It’s a little funny, how terrible he is at lying. “Nothing, I mean, I’m getting a report to the professor for Advanced Arithmancy -”

“I’m in your class,” Baekhyun says, bewildered. “We don’t have a report due.”

It isn’t even the only flaw in Chanyeol’s shitty excuse. This isn’t where their professor’s quarters are, and having a report overdue doesn’t excuse anyone from wandering around the halls so late at night.

When Chanyeol trips over his feet, Baekhyun gives up.

There’s a similar kind of urgency is in his expression right now as that first day, slight panic and worry and concern in those usually warm, quiet eyes. Baekhyun doesn’t know what it is that makes him take pity on Chanyeol.

“Whatever, Park,” he says, surprising both Chanyeol and Jongdae. He shrugs at Jongdae when the Ravenclaw frowns and opens his mouth. “It’s not curfew just yet. We can’t do anything.”

To Chanyeol, Baekhyun shoots a warning smile. “You heard nothing.”

Chanyeol nods at this, making a motion over his lips like he’s zipping them up.

Baekhyun snorts. And with a final nod to Chanyeol, he drags Jongdae from the hall before he can ask why Baekhyun’s doing the Hufflepuff a favor.

\-------

Anyone who touches a chocolate frog the next day is greeted with a small, white rubber snake falling into their lap. The upperclassmen get a kick out of the younger students' terrified screaming until it happens to them, too, and in the end Baekhyun has to sneak away to the bathrooms to hide his laughter.

Sehun realizes that Baekhyun had been making fun of him almost immediately and, consequently, sulks for the next week.

As promised, Chanyeol says nothing.

He also doesn’t touch a chocolate frog for a few days.

  


  
“Look, Hunnie, you’re going to have to talk to me sometime,” Baekhyun says over the library table. Sehun huffs and ignores him, and Jongdae still looks confused.

“So are neither of you going to tell me why Sehun’s pissed at you,” Jongdae asks, frowning. “Baekhyun what did you do?”

“Why are you assuming I did anything?” Baekhyun pretends offense, but his expression falls flat when Sehun huffs and he ends up laughing. “Sehun, he wouldn’t have known, you can stop throwing a hissy fit.”

Jongdae is still frowning. “He - are you talking about Jongin?”

Sehun pouts. For someone whose nickname is the Ice Prince of Slytherin, he acts like a baby when no one is around. “It’s nothing,” he mutters, and stands from his seat. “I’m going to the kitchens for a bit.”

Baekhyun rolls his eyes and focuses back on his papers, but he doesn’t get any further into explaining the mechanisms behind the charm he’s been assigned before Jongdae asks him, “By the way, have you been getting closer with Chanyeol these days?”

Baekhyun makes a face without really meaning to. “What?”

“You were with him a couple of times,” Jongdae says. He seems genuinely curious, but Baekhyun feels like he’s being accused of something. “Sehun said you guys looked pretty comfortable during the tryouts. And you let him off yesterday for being out at curfew, too. You’ve always just been Quidditch rivals, so it was pretty weird when you two started hanging out.”

Baekhyun frowns. “We weren’t -” but Baekhyun cuts himself off. 

They _have_ been near each other. More than usual. At least, it makes sense that Jongdae is confused - they’ve hardly spoken a word to each other the past few years outside the Quidditch pitch but it’s been two weeks since school started and Baekhyun’s seen Chanyeol almost every day.

“He’s just been in a few of my classes,” Baekhyun waves Jongdae away. “It’s nothing much.”

Jongdae looks like he doesn’t believe Baekhun at all, but he doesn’t push for anything more. 

“If you say so.”

And logically, Baekhyun thinks, it really should be nothing.

He shouldn’t care what Chanyeol is doing out late at night, he shouldn’t care about the expression Park had been making the past two times he saw the Hufflepuff, he shouldn’t care about Park and whatever he does because it’s none of his business and it’s not like Chanyeol’s doing anything harmful to the people around him.

Yet even as he thinks it, Baekhyun can't help glancing at Chanyeol during their shared classes, wondering just why he'd felt so off the past day and why he's bothered about Chanyeol in the first place. He can’t help the way his eyes wander to Chanyeol in the Great Hall, watching him laugh with his friends and teammates or slip into the Ravenclaw table where Do Kyungsoo and Kim Jongin always sit together.

It’s strange. He doesn’t like it.

But seventh year also seems to be the year that all the magic in the school starts making Baekhyun’s paths cross with Chanyeol every single day.

Baekhyun can swear that all his past years at Hogwarts, he’s seen Chanyeol a few times a week at most, maybe brushed past him when their teams switched off on the Quidditch field for practices. But now, they just keep running into each other.

Literally, too, Baekhyun thinks with wry amusement when he turns the corner and almost runs into the taller wizard. Baekhyun sidesteps what would have been a painful crash and watches as two students on either side of Chanyeol haul him up. Honestly, for being one of the best Quidditch players the school has seen in a long time, Park has as much grace on land as a baby fawn.

“You’re so clumsy,” Kyungsoo says, while Jongin just laughs. 

“Are you okay?” Baekhyun asks once Chanyeol’s straightened. There’s a faint blush on his cheeks, but otherwise he looks unharmed. Chanyeol nods.

“I’m fine, sorry about that.” Chanyeol smiles a little in embarrassment and lifts a hand to rub the back of his neck, and Baekhyun follows the motion with his eyes. There’s something off about the picture, about the movement in general, but he can’t quite -

Oh. He dyed his hair. The warm brown that Chanyeol had worn the previous day is gone, replaced with soft baby pink that falls over his forehead in a gentle wave, hints of purple and a darker pink within the strands.

It clashes with the yellow and black of his clothes. Yet Park still manages to pull it off. It's almost infuriating. 

He says none of that.

“Nice hair,” Baekhyun settles on.

Chanyeol’s smile turns bashful. “Ah, thank you,” he says, reaching up to touch a few of the strands. Baekhyun thinks he hears Kyungsoo muffle a snort into his hand. “Also, I was wondering -”

He doesn’t get to finish his sentence.

“Baekhyun,” an all-too familiar voice calls from the other end of the hall, and Baekhyun turns to see Jongdae waving at him, Sehun in tow. Getting closer, Jongdae smiles at Kyungsoo as well. Baekhyun’s almost confused for a moment before he remembers that they’re Housemates. “Chanyeol, are you okay?"

Chanyeol smiles sheepishly. "Did you see me fall, too?"

Sehun snorts. "It would have been hard to miss."

And then, something strange happens.

Jongdae loops an arm through Baekhyun's but turns to start a conversation with Kyungsoo, and Sehun asks something about a class to Jongin, who seems pleasantly surprised. It’s strange. Baekhyun knows that all of them know each other somehow; Sehun and Jongin are classmates as well as Quidditch rivals, Jongdae and Kyungsoo used to be Herbology partners and they belong in the same House. But they’ve never really met altogether like this. It’s weird. Baekhyun frowns and faces Chanyeol again. 

“What were you about to say, Park?”

But Chanyeol’s not paying attention to him, instead looking between their two friend groups colliding with what looks like amusement and bewilderment. Baekhyun can’t blame him, he’s a little out of it as well. It takes a full minute for Chanyeol to shake out of the trance.

“It’s nothing,” Chanyeol says eventually, smiling down at Baekhyun. “I’ll ask later.”

Somehow, Baekhyun gets the feeling that it’s a little more than just ‘nothing,’ but he keeps quiet, looking at Chanyeol more closely. Chanyeol’s bright hair had managed to draw his attention away from the rest of his face, but this time, Baekhyun sees the exhaustion underlying his features, seeming even worse than at the Quidditch tryouts. His dark circles have also gotten two shades closer to imitating a raccoon. 

He doesn’t get the chance to ask if Chanyeol’s alright because the bells start ringing. The Hufflepuff yelps that he’s late for practice and practically runs away, calling out behind himself to say bye to Kyungsoo and Jongin. 

Jongdae is looking at the direction Chanyeol ran in with amusement. “Does it even count as a tardy if he’s the captain?”

Baekhyun snorts and shakes his head. He’s about to leave, too, using the excuse of Head Boy duties, but something on the ground catches his gaze and he frowns, bending to pick it up.

It’s a small notebook, barely the size of Baekhyun’s palm. Leather-bound, with thin pages. He could close his fist around it and it’d be completely covered.

“Is this Park’s?” He asks to no one in particular, turning the notebook in his hand. He doesn’t remember seeing something fall out of Chanyeol’s pocket as he ran to practice, so he must have dropped it when he almost ran into Baekhyun earlier.

“It seems so,” Kyungsoo says, shifting his books in his arms. “Do you have a class with him? You could give it to him then.”

Baekhyun nods slowly. He’s a little tempted to see what it is, but even being in Slytherin wouldn’t excuse poking his nose into Chanyeol’s belongings like that. He slips the book into his robes and makes a mental note to give it back to Chanyeol tomorrow.

He doesn’t get far down the hall.

“Hyung, you realize Park literally just fell for you, right?”

Baekhyun sends a hex his way and ignores the laughter he hears from Jongin and Jongdae.

  


  
Several things slam into the desk all at once.

The entire class turns to the source of the loud noise.

Baekhyun nearly falls off his chair.

“What in bloody Merlin -”

He twists around only to be faced with Park Chanyeol and a million of his books stacked precariously on top of one another. For a moment, Baekhyun’s too stunned to remember why he’d opened his mouth in the first place.

“Hey,” Chanyeol says before Baekhyun can continue cursing. “Sorry, I’m a bit clumsy.”

The rest of their class giggles a bit, some boy towards the front saying, _“Classic, Park,”_ like it’s something cute and charming that Chanyeol did. Baekhyun thinks Chanyeol could have used a levitation spell or some other form of magic to carry his books instead of losing control over his grip and dropping them all like a hot potato on the desk, but he keeps those thoughts to himself. “So I’ve noticed.”

Upon closer inspection, there’s a leaf in Chanyeol’s hair. And his face is streaked with a bit of dirt. Baekhyun holds down the urge to wipe it off. 

“Can I sit here?” Chanyeol asks, then, and Baekhyun jolts a little when he realizes he’d been staring. He leans away quickly.

“Last I checked, the chair isn’t my property,” Baekhyun mumbles, turning away and ignoring the smile that stretches across Chanyeol’s face. He pulls his own books out just as their professor sweeps into the room. 

The remainder of the period goes by uneventfully. The few times Baekhyun glances over at Chanyeol, he looks intent on writing, scribbling down notes every now and then and flipping between the pages of his textbook.

But when the bells ring to signal class changes, Park doesn’t move.

Baekhyun pauses as he’s about to sling his bag over his shoulder and looks down at Chanyeol, looking to the window with a far-off expression on his face. He wonders if Chanyeol has even realized that the room is empty save the two of them.

It takes a full second for Baekhyun to force himself to step closer, snapping his fingers in front of Chanyeol’s face.

“Park, class is over.”

For the first time in a while, Chanyeol blinks. He lifts his head from where he’d been leaning it on his hand and looks around, and it finally seems to dawn on him that he’s about to be late for his next class.

“Oh,” Chanyeol says. He runs a hand down his face and starts arranging his mountain of books. “I didn’t even notice. Sorry. Did you need something?”

The question makes Baekhyun blink. He did, but what did he -

“Oh,” he remembers, feeling around in his pocket for the notebook Chanyeol had dropped. He hands it out to Chanyeol, watching as his expression shutters down slowly. “I think this is yours.”

Chanyeol’s mood is unreadable as he takes it back from Baekhyun. Baekhyun almost fidgets at the blank look on his face, almost opens his mouth to assure Chanyeol that he hadn’t read it but he holds himself back in time. It’d only make it seem more like he did.

In the end Chanyeol just smiles a little. “Thank you.”

Baekhyun frowns. The leaf that had been in Chanyeol’s hair in the beginning of the period is still there, and this time, he lets himself reach out and take it out from the soft pink curls. Chanyeol freezes at the touch.

“Is something wrong, Park?” Baekhyun asks, rolling the leaf between his fingers before he flicks it away. “You’re a little off these days.”

Chanyeol only continues packing. “Am I?”

Baekhyun should really be running for his next class. But he stays rooted where he is, watching Chanyeol get his things together instead. At least Chanyeol’s learned from his recent mistake; he puts some of his books in his bag, and he says a gentle, “Wingardium Leviosa,” to make the rest of them bob in the air behind him. Belongings taken care of, Chanyeol looks up and grins teasingly at Baekhyun.

“Thanks for worrying though.”

Baekhyun flushes from his neck up to his cheeks.

“Oh, get off your high hippogriff,” Baekhyun mutters, whirling around to make for the door.

Chanyeol’s laughter travels all the way down the halls.

  


  
“Hey, hey,” Yunji claps her hands, “You guys are going too slow, at this rate even Gryffindor’s Chasers could block you without blinking an eye!”

Baekhyun takes the time his captain uses lecturing their players to take a swig from his water bottle and catch his breath. It’s fair for them to be a little slower now, he thinks drly, after running laps around the pitch, flying ten laps on their brooms, and then having played a game of tag with their Beaters aiming the Bludgers at all their heads, but he says none of that. It makes sense that she’s feeling anxious. He is, too.

It’s their last year at Hogwarts, and they all want the Quidditch Cup.

But time’s up.

The rest of their team droops when they hear the bells signal the changing hour. It’s five now, which means it’s Ravenclaw’s time out on the pitch.

Yunji sighs.

“Alright, good practice today. We’re going to have to work on stamina. Winter games are shitty, you all know that, we need to be prepared for the worst weather conditions and longer game hours.” She claps her hands. “You can get out now.”

Baekhyun watches as their members trudge out of the field and smiles a bit at the younger players’ obvious exhaustion. His eyes linger on the kid who’d burst out crying when he was accepted. Lucas, was it? 

For a second-year, he sure has drive. Baekhyun's surprised he was able to keep up with all their drills today when their first practice just yesterday was sure to have been even more exhausting. 

“Aren’t you being a bit harsh?” Baekhyun walks up to his captain and nudges her arm. “It’s only our second practice.”

Yunji raises a brow at him. “I have a feeling you would have been worse if you were captain.”

Baekhyun only shrugs, amused. “But I’m not.”

Yunji makes a small noise at the back of her throat and Baekhyun joins her in wrestling the Bludgers back into the case of Quidditch balls, looking up only when a Quaffle is shoved in front of his face. Baekhyun smiles up at Sehun.

“Have you finished sulking now?”

Sehun huffs. “Be quiet.”

Baekhyun laughs and takes the Quaffle. “I’ll see you later, remember you have Prefect duties at seven tonight.”

Sehun’s disgruntled expression fades after a moment. “Alright.”

With all the items in the case, Yunji closes the case firmly and Baekhyun stands, getting up to leave when she speaks again.

“I saw you looking at him, by the way,” she says. Baekhyun glances up at her and is met with a small smile. “Lucas. The new kid.”

“He’s cute,” Baekhyun says, not sure what she wants to hear from him. “And eager. Hardworking. We can always use that on the team.”

Yunji snorts, shifting the case in her arms as they walk over to where the Ravenclaw captain is. “He’s a huge fan of yours. He came up to me after he was accepted and asked if he gets to play with _the_ Byun Baekhyun. He reminds me of you, when you came into the team at his age."

Baekhyun raises his brows. Huh. He doesn’t know how he’s supposed to react to that. “Well, I’ll be off now. I need to go do rounds.”

Yunji smiles. “Nice work today. Say hi to the kid once in a while, yeah?”

Baekhyun smiles back, pushing back his sweat-soaked hair away from his face. “Sure.”

Leaving the pitch, Baekhyun heads for the lockers in the back, changing into a shirt and shorts. He'll need to shower soon, but there's a strange exhaustion weighing down his limbs and making him feel lethargic.

He gets his broom into the Slytherin broomshed and closes the door, even as his fingers itch to hold the handle again. Today might be one of those days, Baekhyun realizes, when he feels so suffocated that he ends up taking his broom back out to fly around the school a few times. The night air sounds so refreshing right now.

Baekhyun sighs and shakes the thoughts away. Then, stretching his sore muscles, he grabs his things from the locker and heads to the fifth floor where the Prefect's bathrooms are.

Might as well take a bath. He has a lot of time, and the warmth might be helpful for his exhaustion. 

He'll need the energy for rounds.

\--------

Doing rounds in Hogwarts is much more interesting than it might have been anywhere else.

Throughout his time as Prefect and now as Head Boy, Baekhyun has seen ghosts attempting execution, caught a Gryffindor trying to scare the other students by walking around faking Parseltongue, ran into a pixie infestation, and chased after enough younger pranksters that he hardly gets surprised by anything anymore. It’s the years of experience he has in this castle that has him heading towards the crash he hears at the end of the hall with a sort of deadpan emotion only found in upperclassmen. He’s just tired now.

“Hey, are you okay?” He calls out, "Who's there?”

The noise, Baekhyun finds, was from none other than Park Chanyeol.

Baekhyun blinks. Is he even surprised anymore? Park’s behavior lately has been more erratic than the fucking Fat Lady. He looks down at Chanyeol, sprawled over the last few steps of the staircase, torn between asking him why he’s out and hauling him up. 

He settles for the latter before he starts with the questions, heaving Chanyeol to his feet.

"It's past curfew," Baekhyun says when Chanyeol has straightened, frowning, "what are you doing out here?"

“Baekhyun, I -”

Baekhyun steps a little closer. Chanyeol steps back and almost trips over the stairs again.

“Park,” Baekhyun says slowly, “you do realize it’s the second time this happened?”

Chanyeol’s biting his lip now, arms firmly behind his back and he looks slightly terrified. Baekhyun doesn’t know whether or not to be offended. He’s not that scary.

Just as Chanyeol’s opening his mouth though, steps echo down the hall, and Baekhyun curses under his breath. If it's the Head Girl, Chanyeol will be dead meat. Chanyeol looks like he still has no clue what to say, so he shoves the Hufflepuff towards a painting he recognizes and swings it open to reveal a small closet space. 

“Get in here,” Baekhyun says, “I’m Head Boy but you have no reason to be out late.”

"Hold on -"

He shuts the painting back before Chanyeol can argue.

The steps turn out to be Sooyoung. She looks at Baekhyun strangely.

"Weren't you with someone?" She looks around the hall and blinks. "I thought I heard another voice."

Baekhyun nods his head down the other hall. He doesn't really want to lie to Sooyoung, but it’s not like he can drag Chanyeol back out of the painting right now. "I was talking to Jongdae. He’s helping me out with rounds since Amber isn't available today."

Technically it isn't a lie. He'll just have to pray Jongdae doesn't come down the other hall anytime soon. But she seems to believe him. "Ah, alright then." She smiles at Baekhyun pleasantly. "I'll see you around."

Baekhyun smiles and waves. "Goodnight."

It's only after he counts two full minutes once Sooyoung is gone that Baekhyun gets back to the painting and helps Chanyeol heave himself out.

"How do you even know about that place?" Chanyeol asks, eyes wide.

"I used to sneak around late at night a lot when I was younger," Baekhyun shrugs. "I know almost all the hidden passageways."

Chanyeol makes a soft noise, and Baekhyun raises a brow. “What, is it unexpected coming from a Slytherin?”

“Well no, I was just surprised. Since you’re Head Boy and all,” Chanyeol says, sounding amused, but it doesn’t seem offensive. He sends a tired smile Baekhyun’s way. “Thank you.”

He's a little tempted to use this to coerce Chanyeol into telling him whatever he'd been doing out so late. But the concern hasn't disappeared from Chanyeol's face, and even under his smile his worry is evident. Baekhyun sighs. "Just hurry up and go. Don't get caught so late at night, or I won't be able to turn a blind eye again."

Chanyeol looks at him for a moment, eyes indecipherable and his expression hesitant. Again, Baekhyun feels strangely like he’s getting observed by the Hufflepuff, but he tries to ignore it. "Alright. Thanks, Baekhyun."

"Get moving, Park."

  


  
The sight that greets Baekhyun at when he steps into the Great Hall is one he’s not quite sure how to react to.

He stares at the three gigantic owls flying around the top of the Great Hall with something close to pain, knowing just by their size and majestic posse exactly who had sent the trio. And then they swoop down lower, and Baekhyun realizes they’re holding black padded jackets. The entirety of the Great Hall is staring as the owls come to a graceful stop above the Slytherin table. Baekhyun swears under his breath. _Padded jackets._ It’s not even October yet.

Fucking _Junmyeon_.

Baekhyun supposes it's his fault he assumed Junmyeon wouldn't do this once he graduated. 

Clicking his tongue, Baekhyun walks over to the Slytherin table where Sehun and Jongdae are. The owls have hopped onto the bench, crooning loudly as they smother Sehun in hugs and light nips. Pets really take after their owners, Baekhyun thinks dryly. Even they know how much their owner treasures Sehun. Sehun is practically preening under the attention.

“He sent us a care package,” Jongdae says. He also looks like he has absolutely no clue how the world came to this. He hands Baekhyun a small letter.

Baekhyun rubs at his temples. “How… sweet.”

The owls are still hooting and crooning. The first-years who hadn’t been around to witness this when Junmyeon was around are staring in fear, probably because of how big the owls are. Most of the owls that people have in Hogwarts span from tiny to around the size of a forearm, but the trio that Junmyeon takes care of are all larger than an average first-year’s entire upper body. Baekhyun wants the ground to swallow him whole. 

“Hello, Brownie,” Baekhyun says to the darkest one. Brownie hoots back at him. “And you, Button.” The biggest owl of the lot croons. “And Cotton.” The white owl nips happily.

He still has no idea how Junmyeon thought these names were fitting to three owls that look like they could devour a fox each and still have room for three servings of mice dessert, but the only thing he can do is give them a few rodents to eat and send them on their way - before one of them almost eats another student’s pet rat.

Again.

But even after he’s given them snacks, it takes a while for them to leave. Baekhyun’s almost desperate at this point. Other seventh-years are laughing at Baekhyun’s humiliation, he sees Chanyeol looking at a loss for words over at the Hufflepuff table, and the younger students have gotten over their fear after realizing how friendly the owls are around humans and are now just giggling.

Half the problem is because Cotton, especially, is extremely reluctant to leave Sehun, who she’d adopted as one of her humans while Junmyeon was still at Hogwarts. Her other human had been Yixing. Baekhyun remembers how much she’d used to cling to Yixing whenever she could; she’d perch on his head and follow him around to all his classes and the professors had given up doing anything about it after a while. Baekhyun still wonders how Yixing’s neck didn’t snap after carrying her weight for hours straight.

Eventually though, Cotton follows Brownie and Button out. Only after Baekhyun assures her that they’ll see them again soon.

And then Baekhyun collapses onto the seat.

He’d already been exhausted when he came into the Hall for dinner, but now, he’s just drained. After the bewildering, and frankly, ridiculous past twenty minutes, he has no energy to be doing anything anymore.

“I’ll be sending Junmyeon a very strong suggestion never to do that again,” Baekhyun runs a hand through his hair. Next to him, Jongdae looks just as tired.

“I thought he’d stop using all three of them once he graduated.” Jongdae says.

Sehun just looks pleased. “I thought it was a nice surprise.”

Baekhyun rolls his eyes and takes a plate, heaping food on top of it. “Because you aren’t the one dealing with them.” 

It takes a moment for Baekhyun to remember the letter Jongdae had handed to him when he first walked in. In it, Junmyeon apologizes for not writing as much, but promises to make it up to them with gifts. As long as the gifts don’t come in the form of three giant owls scaring the life out of the student body and absolutely humiliating Baekhyun, he’ll be happy with anything. 

_The jackets are fresh from the best brand in Italy_ , Junmyeon writes at the end. _I didn’t want them to get damaged by mail, so I had the owls deliver them straight from the factory._

Jongdae chokes. “From the factory?”

_I love you all._

Baekhyun rubs his temples again. He’s starting to get a headache. 

“I’m going to bring this down to my room,” he mutters, taking his jacket. He turns to Sehun. “Do you want me to put yours in your room too?”

Sehun’s too busy eating to notice. Baekhyun rolls his eyes and takes Sehun’s jacket too anyway.

Getting to the Slytherin dorms, Baekhyun drops off Sehun’s jacket in his shared room and then goes to his own. One of the benefits of being Head Boy; he can choose to have a single instead of getting a roommate. The privacy is worth the extra work.

Closing the door behind himself, Baekhyun heaves a sigh and heads to his desk, taking out parchment and a quill to write letters of his own. Normally, Baekhyun likes to keep them short and concise - no need to keep all of them longer than necessary with how busy he knows they are - but this time, he finds himself venting a little more, especially to Minseok.

He updates all three of them briefly on how his year has been so far. He doesn’t bother cursing Junmyeon out about the owls because he knows that Junmyeon doesn’t get to his letters until _months_ after they’ve been sent. By the time Junmyeon reads the letter he’s sending now, enough time would have passed that they’ve probably met up at least twice in person. It’s faster to complain to his face.

Yixing’s is the shortest. Of all of them, Baekhyun knows that he has the most irregular hours. At least the Ministry and the Auror Academy have set times for training - medical needs don’t run on a schedule. Baekhyun doesn’t know whether he’ll get to the letter in a day or a month. 

To Minseok, he gets out the worries he hadn’t been able to talk to Jongdae about. How he feels like he’s being pressured to choose a future for himself, with all the teachers and family members and friends around him trying to push him along. How he has no idea what to do. But he feels like he’s whining too much when he reads over it, so he ends off the letter by telling Minseok that should contact Jongdae more frequently.

_He looks like a pouty kitten these days._

Once he’s rolled up all the letters, Baekhyun heads out of the commons and up to the ground floor, whistling long and low for his owl. In less than two minutes, a white speck is heading down from the owlery down to where he is, and Baekhyun presses a soft kiss to Bbeokku’s head as he ties the letters to her feet. 

“It’s for Minseok, Junmyeon, and Yixing.” Baekhyun hands her a few treats. “They’ll know which one is theirs. And if you can, please tell Minseok it’s urgent.”

It’s a bit selfish of him, but Baekhyun doesn’t let himself feel too bad about it. Minseok always manages to spare time to read the letters that come to him whether he replies immediately or not, and right now Baekhyun wants - more than needs - the older man’s advice.

"I miss them," he tells Bbeokku softly, brushing along her feathers. She croons as if telling him she can understand him. "Tell them I love them, too."

With a final kiss and a treat, she soars off, her white wings contrasting against the darkening sky beautifully. Once she’s so far away that Baekhyun can’t see her even when he squints, he turns away, leaning out the corridor sill and overlooking the Black Lake. Until last year, the spot next to him had been taken up by Yixing, his quiet presence like a blanket of comfort around the atmosphere.  
  
Now, there’s no one. Next year, he’ll be gone too.

It still hasn’t fully sunken in, that he’s going to graduate. To be honest, he doesn’t really want to think about it. Thinking about it means accepting that he’s going to be an adult soon, and he doesn’t want the added responsibility. It’s daunting enough, even with three people he has to look up to as role models.

What _are_ they doing right now?

The last time they'd truly all caught up together, Minseok was halfway to finishing his Auror training programme, Junmyeon had been trailing around in the Ministry offices as an intern, and Yixing had been getting praise after praise for his dedication and intuition in St. Mungo's.

They're all doing so well, working so hard, and what's he doing?

A bitter taste fills Baekhyun's mouth.

It's his last year at Hogwarts, he still has no idea what he's going to do, and he'll end up disappointing his parents for sure with how indecisive and irresponsible he's being. The entire situation is just frustrating.

He wishes he knew what he wanted to do. He wishes that he could be as sure of himself in his choices as Yixing is, as passionate as Minseok is, as straightforward as Junmyeon is.

Minseok's words from his first letter come back to Baekhyun and seem to taunt him with their easy simplicity.

_Let things happen as they happen._

If only Baekhyun was that patient.

Feeling suddenly like the night air is too sharp and cold, Baekhyun turns to go back inside, only to see a silhouette of a person darting from the castle towards the Forbidden Forest.

All his annoyance is forgotten for a moment.

“Bloody hell,” he mutters, squinting. Is that, is that _Park_?

With how suspicious Chanyeol’s been acting, Baekhyun wouldn’t be surprised. And his guess is confirmed when the person’s wand lights up, illuminating their face. 

Baekhyun doesn’t have a chance to ponder whether or not it’s a good idea to follow Chanyeol before he’s moving. 

He keeps a steady distance between himself and Chanyeol, slipping into the shadows of the trees to make himself unnoticeable. With how far he is from Chanyeol, he knows that any noise he makes would probably not be audible, but he’s still careful not to crunch on the dry leaves under his feet. Winding paths and several marked trees later, Chanyeol reaches a clearing, and Baekhyun waits behind a cluster of bushes. For what, he doesn’t know.

Is Park practicing magic here? Making something? Does he just need to be alone? But that last one doesn’t make sense. If Chanyeol really wanted, he could have just taken a broom and went wherever his heart so wished. Merlin knows Baekhyun’s done it enough times to have gotten a year’s worth of detention if anyone found out. There must be some reason for Chanyeol to have come _here_ , of all places.

He doesn’t have to wait too long.

Lost in his questions and thoughts, Baekhyun doesn’t realize how the air around them stills until he looks up again, and what he sees this time makes his jaw drop open. Chanyeol’s kneeling on the forest floor, taking something out of his bag as he reaches up to smooth his fingers down a bright red - bird?

No, it’s too big to be just any bird. It’s glowing, too.

The fiery feathers interlace with gold strands and its wings are -

Baekhyun has to bite his hand to keep himself from making a sound.

A phoenix.

And a young one, by the looks of it - it’s not as big as an adult phoenix is usually stated to be. But what’s Park doing with a phoenix? Do phoenixes even live in the Forbidden Forest? Is this what he’d been hiding since the beginning of the year?

Too many unanswered questions. Baekhyun doesn’t know if he should confront Chanyeol about it or not. What would come of it? Could he tell a teacher?

He should tell a teacher. He’s Head Boy, and no matter how much Jongdae badgers at him for not being responsible he does have some modicum of logic and common sense, and doing nothing about a phoenix is not logical or sensible in any way. But, as Baekhyun watches Chanyeol coo at the creature and feed it something through his palm, he doesn’t think he’ll be telling an authoritative figure anytime soon.

He’s making too many exceptions for Park, something tells Baekhyun in the back of his mind. He brushes off the thought.

  


  
The wind whips across Baekhyun’s face. The end of September had come with gusts of heavier, colder wind, and it makes practices even harder, pushes all of them to go further and stretch at their limits. The sun sets at seven instead of nine, and the nights seem darker somehow, the hours of the night slowly overtaking that of the daytime. It makes it hard to focus, and Baekhyun finds himself distracted.

For more reasons than the wind.

Park Chanyeol’s stupid face and his stupid, stupid reckless behavior. Baekhyun should ask one day, why he isn’t a Gryffindor. 

He’s so distracted that he can’t focus even on his broom, which never happens. Luck seems to be against him today, and what used to be the easiest things for him to do during practice suddenly requires all his attention.

He also loses to Sehun in a race for the first time in the fifteen years they’ve known each other, and it’s the thing that finally makes everyone pay attention to Baekhyun and how out of it he is. The entire pitch seems to be staring. Yunji blinks at the two of them from across the field and a lot of the older players slow down in their own races to look at them. Sehun looks just as surprised, almost sliding off his broom.

Baekhyun feels his cheeks burn.

“Hurry up,” Baekhyun says, twisting around at the edge of the pitch. He ignores Yunji’s burning gaze. “We have to race five more times.”

Still flushed at the attention and the fact that he lost to Sehun, Baekhyun shoves all thoughts of Chanyeol out of his head, buries them under the dust that he leaves Sehun in.

Baekhyun doesn’t lose a single one of the next five. 

Yunji still storms up to him after practice.

At times like this, Baekhyun’s reminded that she’s a threatening presence, and her eyes can spark fire when she wants to. He’s prone to forgetting after seven years of knowing her.

“What is up with you?” She asks straight away, crossing her arms. “You normally never slack off during practice but you were out of it the entire first half.”

Baekhyun tries a smile. “Um, I’m tired?”

Yunji scoffs. “Use that on someone who’ll believe you, Byun. I know you. I’ve known you for seven years. You never get distracted for Quidditch."

"I really am tired," Baekhyun says, because it isn't really a lie. He is tired. He slept four hours. And this time, Yunji hesitates, clearly running a conversation through her head to see if it’ll be worth prying for something he doesn’t want to share.

“Alright,” she says at last, running a hand through her hair. “I’d normally never say anything about this because you’re one of the most dedicated players, but I’m worried. Sehun’s come up to ask me if you told me anything which,” she snorts, “I don’t know why he thought you’d tell me something and not him. But get it together. We’re going to win the Cup this year.”

Baekhyun smiles lightly. “Of course we are.”

“Good.” She claps his back. “Now go on, I know you have Head Boy duties and the like.”

It’s not the last he hears of his behavior though.

“Are you okay?” Sehun asks over the Slytherin table that evening. Baekhyun almost doesn’t hear him.

“It’s rare for you to be worried about me,” Baekhyun says dryly, pushing his food around his plate. He’d meant for it to be a joke, but something about his tone must have been off, because Jongdae stops eating beside him and Sehun frowns.

“Is something wrong?” Jongdae asks. Baekhyun shakes his head.

“No -”

“No my arse,” Sehun snaps, “He lost to me. In a race! In Quidditch!”

Baekhyun rolls his eyes. “Stop making it a big deal, you’re a good player too.”

“Yes but you’re the fastest player in the entire school,” Sehun says, agitated. It’s clear that it’s hurting his pride to be talking. Baekhyun thinks he’s cute, but he also really doesn’t want to be dealing with his friends right now. “You’ve never lost to me. Not even once when we were kids.”

Sighing, Baekhyun pushes his plate away. His appetite is nonexistent right now. “I was just distracted. It’s nothing.”

It’s _not_ nothing, but he doesn’t think he can talk to either of them about this.

Getting back to his room last night, Baekhyun had stayed up far later than he should have.

It all makes sense now; Chanyeol’s nervous energy, the dark circles under his eyes, how tired he seems these days. Baekhyun would guess that the notebook has something to do with it too, with how Chanyeol reacted when he handed it back to him. He’s been sneaking out late at night for the phoenix, and it shows in his behavior and on his face.

It’s not just the sneaking out that’s a problem. Sooner or later, Park’s going to be found out by another Prefect, maybe even the Head Girl or a professor. Baekhyun might be turning his head for now, but if anyone else was to find out, Chanyeol would be in far more trouble. Maybe even stripped of his Captain position temporarily.

Speaking of.

"Sehun, can you and Yerim patrol the second and third floors tonight after curfew?" Baekhyun asks, trying as best he can to sound nonchalant. "I'll tell the Head Girl about the change of plans."

Sehun blinks in his direction. "Why?"

_Because I don’t want you to be the one to find Park in another one of his late night escapades,_ Baekhyun thinks dryly. He doesn’t say that.

"I'll be in the library around then," Baekhyun shrugs. "It'll be easier to stay on the first floor. And aren't you going to be on the third floor anyway?"

"Well yes, but," Sehun frowns, then nods. "Alright then."

Baekhyun shakes off the following questions.

It's not because he’s worried.

It’s _not_.

It’s just until he asks Park about it upfront, he tells himself, and avoids Sehun’s disbelieving stare and Jongdae’s worried eyes.

  


  
Chanyeol beats him to it.

Baekhyun almost wishes he hadn't though, because Chanyeol's method of asking for a private conversation means asking him at lunch. In the Great Hall. Where everyone can see.

It’s a little less crowded right now because it’s lunch time, and different students have different plans for lunch, some skipping it altogether. But there's still at least a third of the student body sitting at the tables for their afternoon meal, and almost all of them are staring up at Chanyeol as he approaches Baekhyun’s table.

“Um, Baekhyun,” Chanyeol says hesitantly. The entirety of the Slytherin table is silent, staring at the two of them in bewilderment. Some of the Hufflepuff team members are also craning their heads to look at them. “Can I talk to you?”

It takes a beat for Baekhyun to even realize he’s being addressed, and immediately once it registers he feels his cheeks grow hot. He ignores the sniggers coming from the rest of his table, especially Sehun. Snakes, the lot of them, though he supposes it’s fitting given their house. Jongdae just looks amused.

“Sure,” Baekhyun says after a minute. “Um, should we -”

Chanyeol nods. “Yeah. Somewhere else?”

Sehun smirks. Jongdae whistles. Baekhyun thinks his captain is boring holes into his head. He stoutly ignores everything as he rises from the table, following Chanyeol out the doors to the Great Hall.

“Enjoy your date!” Jongdae calls after them. Baekhyun sends a hex in his general direction back at the table.

“You could have asked more inconspicuously, you know,” Baekhyun mutters, shoving his hands into his pockets. Chanyeol only offers him an apologetic sort of smile, leading him towards the Astronomy Tower. 

Even after they’ve settled near the windows, Baekhyun doesn’t look at Chanyeol. He’s afraid the earlier blush hasn’t completely faded, so he keeps his gaze on the grounds of their campus, the way some of the trees in the Forbidden Forest are starting to shed their green coats in favor of orange and red. It’s almost October, and the leaves are changing, but the breeze is only cool on his skin, not fully encompassing the chilly airs of fall. It’ll be a while until the weather truly mirrors the season.

“What did you want to ask?” Baekhyun asks, counting the number of trees sporting brighter colors against a backdrop of green. 

Chanyeol is quiet for a while.

“Why didn’t you tell anyone?” He says eventually. Baekhyun faces him at the question.

“What?”

Chanyeol bites his lip. “I know you saw. I don’t know when, but I can tell. You saw what I was doing in the forest, didn’t you?”

The directness makes Baekhyun blink, but he has no reason to lie to Chanyeol. So he nods. Chanyeol winces. “Did you read -”

“I didn’t read the notebook,” Baekhyun says, not letting him finish. He was tempted, but he didn’t. “I just saw you.”

“And you didn’t tell the teachers?”

“You’re acting like you were committing a crime.”

Chanyeol’s brows knit. “Well, it’s against school rules.”

Baekhyun rolls his eyes. “You’re saying this to a Head Boy who’s pulled pranks on the school for seven years.”

This finally seems to get Chanyeol’s defenses down slightly, and he breaks into a hesitant smile. “Well, if you say it like that…”

Chuckling gently, Baekhyun turns back to face the sky, looking up at the clouds. “It’s fine, Park. It must be something important to you, if you’d risk getting into so much trouble. I’m not going to work to add to the stress you must be under.”

For a long while, there’s silence, and Baekhyun wonders if Chanyeol is just that shocked or if he’s doubtful of Baekhyun’s promise. When he turns back though, Chanyeol is staring at him with a mix of surprise and something else that Baekhyun can’t really read. He feels like he’s getting analyzed and appraised all at once. It’s a strange feeling, but it’s not the first time Baekhyun’s felt like Chanyeol was observing him like this.

“You’re a lot nicer than the school makes you out to be,” Chanyeol says after a moment.

Baekhyun blinks. "Merlin, thank you."

“Wait,” Chanyeol winces, “That’s not what I meant. Well, not really anyway, it’s just, if you haven’t noticed, you’re kind of intimidating.”

Baekhyun laughs when Chanyeol stutters a bit more.

He knows what Chanyeol is trying to say. Baekhyun rarely smiles, and he’s rather known for being the fastest Quidditch player in the school. Add that to being a Slytherin, and there’s the perfect, stereotypical Pureblood wizard people expect of his house. It doesn’t help that Sehun’s one of his distant cousins, and it’s been long since they’ve gotten paired together as the so called princes of Slytherin.

“I didn’t mean to offend you,” Chanyeol says, frowning. He’s rubbing the back of his neck again, it seems to be a nervous tick of his.

“It’s fine,” Baekhyun says, shooting a wry smile back at Chanyeol. “But you should really stop sneaking out at night. It shows on your face when you lie.”

Chanyeol laughs.

“Maybe you’re just too good at reading me.”

Getting back to the table means getting a whole bunch of questions about everything. Baekhyun says that Chanyeol had just asked him a question about a project they have together. No one believes him. 

  


  
Really, their relationship wasn’t supposed to be anything more than that.

Just that chance discovery. A brief intersection of their paths.

But then Chanyeol starts talking to Baekhyun more. In class. In the halls. Sometimes even in the Great Hall. In the beginning, Baekhyun had tried to brush it off, brush Chanyeol off. The plan is failing though, because as Baekhyun is quickly learning - Chanyeol is one of the kindest, smiliest people at this school, even with Kang Seulgi walking its grounds. The first time Baekhyun had returned his smile with just a nod, Chanyeol’s expression fell a little and Baekhyun’s chest physically turned in on itself. 

It’s weird.

Chanyeol’s weird.

Baekhyun finds himself spacing out through most of the day, to a point where Sehun has to snap his fingers in front of his face during dinner to get his attention.

“Hyung,” Sehun repeats, for what must be the fortieth time that day. His voice is whiny and annoyed. “Hyung I swear to God, Baekhyun-hyung, hyung, oh hello there Chanyeol -”

And if he didn’t already know that he’s been spending an unnatural amount of time concerned over matters involving the Hufflepuff, his name alone manages to make Baekhyun snap into focus, and he almost chokes on the bit of rice he’d had left in his mouth. But looking up, there is no Chanyeol, and Baekhyun realizes a beat too late that the reaction had been exactly what Sehun wanted. He wills the flush in his cheeks to fade as he rolls his eyes. “You’re a little shit.”

Sehun only seems pleased. “I was calling you. You weren’t listening. But you sure seemed interested in Park, huh?”

“He’s older than you,” Baekhyun says half-heartedly, pushing around the chicken in his plate. “Better not call him Park in front of his face.”

“There’s really something between you two,” Jongdae says, stating what Baekhyun thinks the entirety of Hogwarts has been whispering around him and Chanyeol the past week.

Well, not the entirety. He's being dramatic, but if nothing else, their respective Quidditch teams have been giving them hell about the recent change in their relationship.

“If I hear another ‘He’s a Keeper’ joke from any of you I will hex you into the next week,” Baekhyun snaps. 

Jongdae laughs as he stands up from the table, ruffling Baekhyun’s hair. “Admit it, that’s a good one.”

Baekhyun sneers, but he doesn’t get a chance to reply because Jongdae leaves with the excuse of a meeting with his professor, and a warm presence slips into the seat Jongdae had emptied. When he looks up, he sees Kyungsoo, a small smile on the Ravenclaw’s lips, and Jongin is sitting down next to Sehun on the other side. Baekhyun feels a petty sort of smugness when Sehun shuts up and flushes a light pink, but the one other person Baekhyun had expected to be with them isn’t there.

It feels weird to be sitting together like this without Chanyeol being the middle-man, but it also seems rude to be asking why they’re here, so Baekhyun doesn’t. The question must have been clear in his face though, because Kyungsoo leans in anyway.

“Jongin said some excuse about wanting to ask Sehun a question about class,” Kyungsoo says quietly. There’s a fond look on his face. “I played along.”

Understanding dawns on Baekhyun and he can’t help but chuckle a little. Jongin is smiling at Sehun, eyes sleepy and soft, and Sehun looks like he has no idea how to handle the attention. It’s cute.

“I did have something to ask though,” Kyungsoo says, and Baekhyun’s attention snaps back to the younger. “Do you know why Chanyeol is so tired these days?”

The question makes Baekhyun blink.

First off, why is Kyungsoo asking _him_? Kyungsoo is Chanyeol’s best friend, has been since he first came here despite the gap in their years. Several thoughts race through Baekhyun’s mind. Has Chanyeol not told Kyungsoo anything? Does that mean he’s the only one who knows what Chanyeol is doing?

“No,” Baekhyun tries to lie, feeling like he’s too see-through under Kyungsoo’s quiet gaze. “I wouldn’t know about that sort of thing.”

He and Chanyeol aren’t even close.

Kyungsoo seems like he doesn’t fully believe Baekhyun, but he just hums gently. “Well, I don’t know.” Baekhyun follows Kyungsoo’s line of sight and watches as Jongin teases Sehun about something, prompting the Slytherin to go red in the face and sputter. “Chanyeol thinks very highly of you, so I thought he might have said something.”

He turns back to Baekhyun and smiles. “Sorry if it bothered you.”

It did bother Baekhyun, but not because of the reason Kyungsoo is apologizing for.

_Chanyeol thinks highly of him?_

Why?

He’s been cordial to Chanyeol at best and unnecessarily cold to him at worst. Then again, Baekhyun supposes, he also has a grudging respect for the Hufflepuff.

Kyungsoo continues eating, and Sehun and Jongin are still bickering, but Baekhyun feels a little too warm suddenly, too cramped.

He doesn’t finish his food before he excuses himself and stands, heading towards the grounds of the castle. 

As soon as the cold air hits him, Baekhyun feels like he’s waking up, like he’s sober again. He navigates his way through the dark to the back of Quidditch pitch where the Slytherin broomshed is, wondering if it’s a good idea to do what he’s about to. 

He keeps forgetting it isn’t summer anymore. The night sky is pitch black already, even though it’s just past eight. The moon, however, is bright, and he’ll need to be careful not to be seen against its light.

Baekhyun picks up his broom from inside and winces at how cold it is. When it gets to winter, the brooms will freeze even within the broomshed, the wood getting frosty and hard to work with. Either he’ll have to cast heating charms over the sheds or take his own broom back to keep in his room.

Still, right now it’s alright. He rubs his hands together to warm them and slips on his gloves, finding familiar dents worn into the handle of his broom where he’s held onto them since he was a child. Baekhyun feels his heart get lighter just by holding onto the broom, and he heads over to the Lake to mount it, where the backdrop of the dark forest will hide his flight.

For now.

Baekhyun flies up to a good height and then he starts circling the school, gaining speed and momentum with each second that passes. He’s done this for hours once, when he was so frustrated with OWLS and school that he left the dinner table, similarly to the way he had tonight, and spent nearly the entire night outside. Fortunately, it had been the weekend, and he had the time to sleep until noon when he trudged into the Slytherin commons at dawn. Unfortunately, he’d had to listen to Junmyeon’s worried tirade for an hour when he found Baekhyun until Minseok and Yixing managed to calm him down.

The memories make him smile, and Baekhyun slows down once the adrenaline rush has passed, lazily retracing his flight path at a much more leisurely pace as he looks out at the castle.

Night at Hogwarts is magical in a completely different way than it is in the daytime. 

The lights within the castle are mostly dimmed, but there are lamps in the hallways that shine through the windows and give a soft, orange glow. On a good night, the moon shines down to illuminate the tops of the castle and reflects over the Black Lake, bathing the rest of the forest in a silver light.

No matter how many times Baekhyun does this, flying through the air at a time when Hogwarts is getting ready for slumber, it’s something he’ll never truly get used to. 

Cloaking himself with a Notice-Me-Not charm, Baekhyun dares to fly out from the shadows of the castle and over the grounds, heading to the Forbidden Forest. There aren’t many clearings in the Forest, but there’s one near a small lake Baekhyun had found during fourth year, another by the ridge that leads to the more dangerous parts of the woods, and he’d used both of them plenty over the years whenever he needed extra practice or a breather from his studies. He’s just about to head towards the first when he sees light shining through the tops of a cluster of trees, a rustle somewhere nearby.

A bubble of worry rises in his chest.

Best case scenario, it’s two younger students who decided to spend the night in the Forbidden Forest for bragging rights. Worst case scenario, someone’s about to get mauled by an animal.

Baekhyun prays for it being the former as he circles down near where he remembers seeing the light and lands softly, his feet stepping on dead leaves and twigs. Turning around, Baekhyun looks for the light that he’d seen before, sure that it had to have been a lumos spell. 

Only to come face to face with Park Chanyeol.

“The universe is making my life a running joke,” Baekhyun mutters. Chanyeol is frozen in place, eyes wide and his wand out in front of him like he’d been expecting a wild animal. Baekhyun doesn’t know how he’s supposed to be reacting. “Sorry, did I scare you?”

“You,” Chanyeol sputters, “You just appeared out of nowhere, what in bloody -”

Baekhyun frowns, then makes a small noise as realization hits him. “Oh, the Notice-Me-Not charm must have worn off.”

“I won’t get you in trouble,” Baekhyun adds too, when Chanyeol keeps staring. It takes a beat for Chanyeol to lower his wand.

“You don’t have to,” Chanyeol says at last, running a hand down his face. Baekhyun takes note of the dark circles under his eyes and can’t help but frown. “It’s my fault I was out so late.”

Technically, the Forbidden Forest is off grounds without a supervisor no matter what time of the day it is, but Baekhyun doesn’t say that.

“I was out too,” Baekhyun shrugs. “So I’d have to punish myself as well if we were being fair.”

Chanyeol still seems hesitant though, so Baekhyun sighs and holds out a hand. “Should I swear it?”

Chanyeol shakes his head. “No, that’s not,” he grimaces and sighs, “I just feel like I’m making your Head Boy duties a lot harder than they already are.”

He sounds genuinely sorry. For a moment, Baekhyun almost considers telling him the truth, that he’d moved around some of the Prefects to let Chanyeol have more freedom in the evenings, that he’d lied to his friends and the Head Girl just to cover his sorry ass. He ends up smiling. “No offense, Park, I think you’re overestimating how much your late night adventures affect me.”

Chanyeol smiles back apologetically. “Well, then that’d be a relief.”

After reassuring Chanyeol that yes, really, he’s not causing nearly as much trouble for Baekhyun as he thinks he is, Baekhyun peeks over Chanyeol’s side, trying to see where he’d been before. “Were you out here for the phoenix?”

Chanyeol looks surprised for a moment until he remembers that Baekhyun had seen him with the phoenix already. “Yeah.” He pauses. “Do you want to see him?”

Baekhyun blinks. So it’s a ‘he,’ then? “Won’t I scare him?”

Chanyeol shakes his head. He seems to take Baekhyun’s question as an affirmative, too, as he walks back to a tree behind him and crouches in front of the shrubbery at its feet. “I don’t think so. As long as you’re not threatening.”

“You called me intimidating,” Baekhyun points out, and Chanyeol pouts.

He _pouts_.

Baekhyun almost doubts his own eyes.

“I didn’t mean it like that,” Chanyeol insists, “Really, I just -”

“Park, I’m just teasing,” Baekhyun chuckles. Chanyeol stays pouty for a moment longer before he snaps out of it, and he lifts the shrubbery. It’s a case, Baekhyun realizes. Chanyeol’s created a sort of dome out of dead leaves and surrounding vines. And under it lays the phoenix he’d seen that day with Chanyeol.

The bird tilts his head at Baekhyun, and his breath catches in his throat.

He hadn’t seen the phoenix that well before, hidden partially by Chanyeol’s frame and unfocused due to how far he was. But up close, he’s just beautiful. The gold that interlaces with the fiery red of his feathers makes it seem as though he’s made of living flame, sparks licking up the bird’s form and eyes a piercing, ethereal blue.

“Beautiful, isn’t he,” Chanyeol whispers, and Baekhyun can’t help but nod. What else can he do, really, in front of such brilliance?

“How long have you worked with him?” Baekhyun asks, crouching beside Chanyeol and watching in fascination as the bird moves a little closer. He’d been surprised enough that the phoenix didn’t seem suspicious of him, but it’s even stranger that it’s letting Baekhyun so close. Chanyeol really must have taken care of it well if it’s so comfortable with humans.

“It’s only been a few months,” Chanyeol admits. “I found him during the end of sixth year. He was injured and he couldn’t fly, so I patched him up and made him a place to rest at night, too. I was a little scared he wouldn’t recognize me when we came back since summer vacation is so long, but he could tell I was coming right away.”

Baekhyun gazes at the smile on Chanyeol’s face for a moment and “That’s why you kept appearing past curfew?”

Chanyeol has the grace to look bashful. “I didn’t mean to trouble you like that, really. I was just worried about him.”

“It’s fine, Park,” Baekhyun sighs, his own lips quirking up slightly when the phoenix nudges his knee with its head. “Whoa, hey, your beak is pointy.”

“I think he likes you,” Chanyeol says. The words are humorous, but there’s something else in his voice that Baekhyun doesn’t dare to let himself read too much into. “It took him weeks to be playful around me.”

“I must be charming,” Baekhyun replies jokingly.

He’s not really expecting an answer, so it’s surprising when Chanyeol says, “You are,” softly, so quietly that Baekhyun thinks he shouldn’t have heard it at all.

So instead of stuttering out an answer, Baekhyun lets the silence envelop them for a while. At least, until the bells toll to signal the clock striking eleven.

“We should get going,” Baekhyun says, tearing his eyes from the phoenix with difficulty. “It’s late. And this is why you’re turning into a raccoon by the day.”

Chanyeol laughs. “Is it that bad? I tried to cover up the dark circles.”

“It didn’t work at all,” Baekhyun replies, watching Chanyeol rub comforting circles into the phoenix’s feathers and cover the place with the leafy dome again. Almost as an afterthought, Chanyeol casts a heating charm over it. 

“It really isn’t summer anymore,” Chanyeol says, looking up to the sky as he brushes off the grass on his jeans. “It’s gotten so cold.”

“This is why normal people don’t sneak out of the castle in the dead of night,” Baekhyun says dryly. Not that he is one, either, but he’s a hell of a lot better than Chanyeol.

Chanyeol chuckles gently, rising to his feet and offering Baekhyun a hand that he accepts, letting Chanyeol pull him up. “That’s true.”

In hindsight, Baekhyun should have worn something warmer. He’d barely come out later at night the past few days, and he’d forgotten how chilly it could get.

“Are you cold?” Chanyeol asks when Baekhyun shivers.

He doesn’t wait for an answer before he drapes his own cloak on top of Baekhyun’s shoulders, the cloth nearly swallowing his smaller frame. Baekhyun hopes he isn’t too obvious as he wraps the cloak more tightly around himself, burying his face into the soft material. “Won’t you get cold?”

Chanyeol shakes his head. “It’s fine. Besides, hot air rises.”

Immediately Baekhyun schools his face into a scowl, elbowing Chanyeol into the side. It has no real bite to it, but Chanyeol fakes hurt anyway.

“Very funny, Park, did you have that planned out in your head?”

“Absolutely."

They walk in silence for another few minutes, but it's comfortable, and Chanyeol's cloak around him is warm. They've almost reached the side entrance to the castle when Baekhyun remembers something.

"By the way," he asks, prompting a small hum from Chanyeol, "what was that notebook about? You looked surprised when I gave it back to you."

"Oh that," Chanyeol says. He brings a hand to the back of his neck. "It was actually a list of food and potions I might need to take care of him. And drawings. But it would have been a bit questionable if someone found out about that."

"Which is why you put it in your pocket?" Baekhyun questions dryly. "It fell out so easily."

"Well I didn't know I was going to run straight into you," Chanyeol whines at Baekhyun's teasing. "You know what, you don't deserve that cloak -"

Baekhyun tuts and sidesteps him entirely. "Nope, this makes up for all the times I let you off. Hey, but don't you owe me a lot more than this? You could have gotten weeks of detention and a temporary halt on your Captain title."

Chanyeol gapes. "Byun Baekhyun, have you just been acting nice so you could blackmail me later?"

"Funny you expected more from a Slytherin."

Things with Chanyeol are easy, effortless. Baekhyun wonders what kind of friendship they would have had by now if he’d just reached out a little more when they were younger.

But it doesn’t matter now.

He watches Chanyeol breathe out into the autumn air and doesn’t notice the way his own eyes soften.

  


  
It keeps getting colder. The temperature doesn’t bother Baekhyun much though; the air is crisp and cool at night and it feels refreshing on his skin during rounds, especially after a particularly long day. 

The one thing he’s not quite a fan of is how dead leaves seem to find their way absolutely anywhere. Through windows, open archways, carried in by students who'd been outside - it's everywhere. Baekhyun scrunches his nose and waves his wand at the scatter of dirt and twigs on the floor, making them fly back out.

"Hey, Baekhyun?"

Baekhyun doesn't bother looking up as he hums out an answer. He’s so distracted trying to clean the halls that he doesn’t recognize the slight tremble in Jongdae’s voice. “What is it?”

“I might not be going to St. Mungo’s,” Jongdae says as they turn the corner to head to the stairs.

Baekhyun slips on a leaf. Jongdae barely manages to catch him as he almost crashes into the wall.

“What -”

“I don’t mean like, ever,” Jongdae hurries to explain.

“You _better_ not mean ever,” Baekhyun snaps, regaining his balance. “Are you insane? You’ve been working for this for how long -”

“I know, I know. That’s not what I meant.” Jongdae breathes in softly, and Baekhyun frowns. His friend looks uncharacteristically nervous. 

He doesn’t like it.

“In the nicest way possible,” Baekhyun says after a moment, “Just spit it out.”

Jongdae huffs. 

“This is what I had the meeting with my professor about,” Jongdae says at last, looking away. It takes another moment for him to open his mouth again.

“I think I want to go into the missions branch of St. Mungo’s.” Jongdae says.

And that - that’s not what Baekhyun expected. He's not sure what he expected, really, it's not like Jongdae would have suddenly changed his mind; he's worked too hard too long to do that.

At his silence, Jongdae continues. “Following around Hit Wizards and Aurors and treating them when they get injured. It’s a lot more fast-paced and dangerous than being a hospital Healer, and it requires a year or two of training in the field until I can be screened and train to get accepted into the team. I think I’m going to join a volunteer group somewhere, but I haven’t decided where yet.”

Baekhyun takes it in silently. Jongdae fidgets a little.

“That’s dangerous,” Baekhyun finally says. 

Jongdae just smiles. “I know.” 

Being an Auror is a dangerous, risky job. A Hit Wizard even more so. They get sent on missions that last anywhere between a week and a year, and most are under such strict confidentiality clauses that even if they die during a mission, their loved ones may never find out what it was that got them killed. Following those people around, even if the position doesn’t require active fighting… Jongdae slips his arm through Baekhyun’s and presses closer to him. Baekhyun forgets to keep up his Slytherin persona and push him away.

“Are you angry?” Jongdae asks softly.

Baekhyun shakes his head. He has no right to be. Jongdae is his best friend, and he has the talent and the motivation to be able to do whatever he likes. He isn’t angry. 

“Just worried,” Baekhyun admits. Jongdae leans on him a little more.

Baekhyun also has a sneaking suspicion of a reason Jongdae might have considered going into this section of the Healer field in the first place, but it isn’t his place to pry. So he doesn’t. 

“Say,” Baekhyun asks, trying to lighten the mood, “have you gotten a letter from Minseok yet?”

Jongdae’s expression brightens. “Yeah, actually. He’s staying over for a week or so, too.”

Baekhyun lets himself smile slightly at Jongdae’s excitement. He’s still not quite comfortable with the idea of Jongdae going into such a dangerous job yet, but he has the rest of the year and their adulthood to worry. 

He has his own problems to worry about.

Such as Quidditch.

If Baekhyun thought practice was getting harder towards October, he should have waited until the month officially started to claim anything.

Yunji is _ruthless_ now.

Baekhyun supposes it’s a good thing, that they’re getting the brunt of it right before their first match. It’s getting their stamina up, it’s getting their morale up, and everyone’s brimming with the type of energy that only makes an appearance at the very first game of the year. It’s nice. It’s getting his spirits up, too.

It’s another thing entirely how his body reacts to the practice.

The entire team is groaning as they trudge out of the field. Baekhyun thinks his hands are about to fall off from having held onto his broomstick for so long. All he wants right now is a warm shower and to finish all his homework for the weekend. And then knock himself out for a few days.

He doesn’t even get a step out of the lockers. 

“Hey, Byun,” one of their Beaters calls from the front of the room. Baekhyun looks up from his conversation with Yunji about attack strategies, pausing in his attempts to dry his hair with one hand and freezing up completely at what he sees.

Or rather - _who_.

“Your boyfriend’s waiting.”

Chanyeol waves helpfully from the doors to the locker room.

That’s right. This is the second on Baekhyun’s list of problems.

Baekhyun’s going to die or murder someone.

Almost as stunned as he is embarrassed, Baekhyun tries to hide his face, all talk of strategy forgotten as he storms up to Chanyeol and grabs his collar, dragging the Hufflepuff out of the Quidditch vicinities. He ignores the hoots behind him, ignores the way Sehun is burning holes into the back of his head.

“What are you doing?” Baekhyun hisses.

Chanyeol only looks slightly apologetic. Not nearly as much as he should be. 

“Sorry I just,” Chanyeol winces. Baekhyun frowns, anger put on the back-burner for a moment.

“What’s wrong?” Baekhyun asks, watching Chanyeol rub the back of his neck. 

“I didn’t know who else to go to,” Chanyeol gets out, and Baekhyun understands. The phoenix. Of course. There's a strange disappointment that comes with the realization, but Baekhyun brushes off the feeling. What else had he been expecting?

“Did something happen to him?”

Chanyeol purses his lips. “He’s gone.”

Baekhyun blinks. “What?”

“I don’t,” Chanyeol bits his lip, agitated, “I don’t know. But I went to check up on him and he was gone and there were some of his feathers nearby, too. I mean, I know technically phoenixes are immortal, but -”

Baekhyun breathes out slowly. He gets why Chanyeol is panicking now.

“Was there blood anywhere?”

Chanyeol shakes his head.

“Then there’s a good chance it’s not what you’re thinking,” Baekhyun says, grabbing Chanyeol’s wrist. “Come on, let’s go look for him.”

“Wait, Baekhyun -”

Baekhyun barely spares him a glance. “What?”

“Um, why are we heading back to the Quidditch pitch?”

Baekhyun looks back towards Chanyeol and smiles. “Because I have a hunch, and I want to check if I’m right.”

  


  
They find the phoenix flying in a clearing near the place Chanyeol had kept it. 

“You were right,” Chanyeol exclaims, eyes bright and giddy. The phoenix flies over to croon at the two of them, circling the broom and Chanyeol laughs, his happiness contagious. Baekhyun finds himself smiling too. “His wing must have healed enough for him to fly again. I can’t believe I didn’t think of it!”

Descending to the forest floor, Baekhyun lets Chanyeol off the back of his broom first before he slides off its back, tucking it into his arm comfortably. He’ll have to sneak his broom back into the broomshed but for now, he’s happy where he is, watching as Chanyeol strokes down the phoenix’s back and coos about how proud he is.

Baekhyun joins him and laughs when the phoenix hops off Chanyeol’s arm onto his shoulder, turning his face into the soft feathers. 

“Hey, it’s been a while.” Baekhyun smiles. “Did you miss me?”

The phoenix makes a small noise in response and flutters down to his arms.

"You got bigger already," Baekhyun notes with faint surprise. The wing that had healed no longer looks stiff, and the phoenix has grown from the last time Baekhyun’s seen him.

“I named him Loey,” Chanyeol says, and Baekhyun nearly jolts at how close he is. Chanyeol’s directly behind him, his tall figure radiating warmth and happiness and relief all at once. Looking up, Baekhyun’s met with a gentle smile, and it takes his breath away for a reason he can’t name. Chanyeol’s been doing that more recently.

Eventually Baekhyun turns away, back at the attention-seeking phoenix in his arms.

“I like that.” Loey tilts his head at him and Baekhyun chuckles. “Hey, Loey.”

  


  
There's a distinct shift in their relationship that goes past the awkward friendship now. 

Baekhyun will look up from his table in the Great Hall, sometimes, and meet a warm gaze that smiles at him when their eyes lock. Other times, Chanyeol makes a small motion, whether by his expression or his hands, and Baekhyun will immediately understand, rising from his table and making up some excuse to follow Chanyeol out of the castle and into the Forbidden Forest.

It gets gradually colder. Jongdae still suspects Baekhyun of something, and Sehun still insists that something is up. Meanwhile, Loey gets bigger still. Eventually Chanyeol doesn't have to give Loey any of the medicine he'd been making anymore.

“We should tell Hagrid,” Baekhyun whispers one day, looking down at the sleeping phoenix in front of him.

Loey is huge now. He’s grown to around the size of Chanyeol’s entire torso, and his wings are healed to a point where Baekhyun has seen him spiraling in the air for hours at a time without getting tired or hurt. They’ve done all they can, and now it’s time for someone more experienced to make the call. Chanyeol seems to think the same, his disappointment rolling off him in waves but carrying with it a heavy acceptance.

“Yeah,” Chanyeol says after a long while. “I just, maybe I shouldn’t have named him.” Baekhyun’s own heart twists at the hurt in Chanyeol’s voice. “It’s just making everything harder.”

Baekhyun shakes his head. “Don’t say that.” Reaching out, he runs a hand down Loey’s feathers and smiles. “

“It’s not your fault,” Baekhyun says, not knowing what other comforts he can offer. Chanyeol takes it with a small smile.

“When should we tell him?” Chanyeol asks. It’s obviously hard for him to get the words out, and Baekhyun doesn’t know if what he’s feeling is pity or endearment. Probably pity.

“It doesn’t have to be right away,” Baekhyun tries to mitigate. “In a week’s time, maybe? And you can still visit him afterwards, too. It’s not like he’ll forget you.”

Chanyeol lightens a little at that. “Yeah, I guess.”

  


  
They go to Hagrid during the weekend, though it takes them a while to actually tell him anything because Fluffy attacks them both with slobbering kisses at the door. Hagrid is visibly delighted, and his excitement makes his scolding for not consulting a professor about it beforehand considerably less threatening. Chanyeol laughs through apologies and Baekhyun lets him do the talking.

“Thanks, by the way,” Chanyeol says as they walk back to the castle. He’s not looking at Baekhyun, but Baekhyun turns to face him anyway. 

“What for?”

Chanyeol shrugs. “For helping. And keeping it a secret. I know it would have been stressful as Head Boy.”

Isn’t that an understatement. But Baekhyun keeps that to himself. And when Chanyeol reaches over, he lets him link their fingers together in a soft grip.

  
  


It’s a while until Baekhyun sees Chanyeol again. Now that Loey is safe under Hagrid’s care, Chanyeol doesn’t need to sneak out at night anymore, and Baekhyun finally gets to rotate the other Prefects around without fearing that the Hufflepuff will get caught. There’s also a twinge of disappointment in his chest for some reason, but Baekhyun doesn’t focus on it. 

It’s better this way, for everyone. Chanyeol won’t get caught, Baekhyun won’t get caught covering for him, and the less they meet, the less Jongdae and Sehun will be up in his wand about it.

Unfortunately, Hogwarts deems otherwise, and he walks straight into Chanyeol sleeping in the library.

“Chanyeol?”

Baekhyun pauses at the sight in front of him, the way books and parchment are sprawled across the table and Chanyeol’s messy hair is splayed over his arms as he dozes.

It’s an all-too recognizable scene; days of heavy workloads from teachers and preparations for their NEWTS and he’s sure that Chanyeol has more responsibilities as Hufflepuff’s captain and the extracurriculars he’s doing. Any Hogwarts student in year four and above is sure to pity such a display. So even Park has days like this.

“Hey,” Baekhyun says, rounding the table to shake Chanyeol’s shoulder gently. “Park, it’s almost curfew.”

Almost like a zombie, Chanyeol’s head lifts slowly and his low breathing changes pace, eyes blinking open to settle on Baekhyun. Surprise fills his gaze for a moment, but then it shifts into something that looks like fondness and -

And suddenly, Baekhyun feels like he’s too close, like he’s invaded Chanyeol’s privacy somehow. He shouldn’t be able to count Chanyeol’s lashes one by one like this, he shouldn’t be thinking about how soft Chanyeol’s hair looks and he shouldn’t be wondering how it would feel under his fingers; he shouldn’t be having these thoughts at all. Baekhyun whips his hand back and stands.

“Oh, Baekhyun.” Chanyeol straightens his back and stretches, and Baekhyun really, really shouldn’t be thinking about how deep and raspy Chanyeol’s voice gets right after he’s woken up. “Sorry, should I get going now?”

Baekhyun frowns. “Well, it’s not curfew yet. But it’s past dinner. Have you eaten?”

Chanyeol rubs the back of his neck, a familiar sheepish smile on his lips. “Well…”

Baekhyun knows this tone, what with all the times he’s used it in response to Jongdae’s disapproving scolds. He stares down at Chanyeol with something between shock and concern. “Have you eaten anything at all today?”

The answering silence is enough for Baekhyun to sigh.

“Get up, Park.”

When Chanyeol only tilts his head at him curiously, Baekhyun rolls his eyes. “Dinner’s over. Are you going to starve?”

“I mean,” Chanyeol blinks, and Baekhyun watches as the sleep fades to the corners of his eyes with each shut of his lids, “No? But what are we doing?”

“Pack your stuff,” Baekhyun says, not answering his question. “Why were you buried under a pile of work, anyway? Studying for the practice NEWTs?”

Chanyeol doesn’t bother inquiring further and starts organizing his books and papers. “I was just busy this week. Quidditch practice kept me outside longer, and there were a lot of assignments due for my classes.”

“That shouldn’t result in skipping all your meals and falling asleep in the library,” Baekhyun says dryly.

Chanyeol shrugs his satchel over one shoulder and smiles. "Well, what's Hogwarts without doing that once or twice a term?"

Unfortunately, Baekhyun can't argue. “Come on,” he says instead.

He leads Chanyeol straight down to the basement kitchens, and Chanyeol makes a delighted noise when the house elves conjure up pork cutlet. Baekhyun watches Chanyeol inhale the food for a while before he finally snaps out of the food trance, and the pace at which he devours the meal slows considerably.

“They should really consider calling you something other than Prince of Slytherin,” Chanyeol says between the third and fifth plate. Baekhyun’s stopped counting. “It doesn’t seem quite as fitting anymore.”

Baekhyun raises his eyes to Chanyeol. “What?”

"Isn't that your nickname?" Chanyeol asks. He smiles at Baekhyun. "Ice Prince of Slytherin."

Baekhyun scoffs and turns away. "The title of Ice is relegated to Sehun, I'm afraid."

"Still has a nice ring to it," Chanyeol says, finishing his last plate. He leans his chin on his hand. "Prince of Slytherin. The Prince of Slytherin, worrying about me."

Baekhyun feels his cheeks heat up. “I’m never doing anything for you ever again,” he mutters.

For a moment there’s silence, and Baekhyun wonders if Chanyeol had taken it more seriously than he’d meant it. Just as he’s opening his mouth to tell Chanyeol that the least he could do is be grateful for the food, Chanyeol speaks.

“I really am sorry,” Chanyeol says, but his voice is filled with more sincerity than remorse, so it keeps Baekhyun from cutting Chanyeol off. He hates obligatory guilt. It’s always bothered Baekhyun, that people will ask others to go out of their way for them and apologize only after the bulk of the hard work is done to clear their conscience. But a genuine apology he can handle. “I know you’re busy and I probably should have gotten loads of House Points off for everything I did.” He pauses. “And detentions.”

“At least you know it.” Baekhyun gives Chanyeol a light smile. “But don’t worry about it. Unless you want me to take off points now?”

Chanyeol laughs. “No thank you.”

They head out once Chanyeol has finished his food, before the elves can shove dessert and “just-in-case” snacks into their arms. It’d taken effort, but Baekhyun had reminded Chanyeol of the bloated lethargy that comes with inhaling too many sweets and Chanyeol had acquiesced with a pout, even as he stole a truffle from the side table.

“Thanks for tonight, Baekhyun,” Chanyeol says when they reach the Hufflepuff commons. Baekhyun smiles slightly.

“Just be careful, Park, the other Prefects won’t go easy on you.”

Chanyeol laughs again. Baekhyun had always known that Chanyeol laughs a lot, but it’s different, now that he experiences Chanyeol’s happiness at such proximity. It also gives him the strangest, fluttering feelings in his chest, but he doesn’t know what it means and he doesn’t quite want to figure it out yet. So he settles for a smile.

“Goodnight.”

  


  
Baekhyun gets a letter from Minseok almost exactly two weeks after he’s sent his. 

For once, he’d been looking forward to the response, knowing that this time it won’t just be filled with Minseok’s worry and nagging - because as much as Minseok claims he’s not as much a mother as Junmyeon, he doesn’t seem to realize that he’s a father - and hopefully, more the advice Baekhyun needs.

It has none of that.

It had been fine in the beginning, starting with a familiar, _Dear Baekhyun_ -

_I’m glad to know Head Boy duties haven’t been wearing down on your ass. Seventh year is hard, isn’t it. I’m shuddering just imagining taking Advanced Arithmancy._

Baekhyun had snorted at that. Rich, coming from someone who’d taken Advanced Potions. The next sentence is what makes him frown.

_And as for your worries, I suggest you just work it out. Try figuring out what you really want._

Baekhyun isn’t sure exactly what he expected from Minseok, but it definitely wasn’t this. Maybe something similar to Jongdae’s train of thought; trying different things out and seeing what fits, maybe furthering his family legacy the way Junmyeon has, maybe just shooting for anything he’s talented at.

He feels a little part of himself screaming at the answer.

_‘Just work it out.’_

Minseok and Baekbeom make it sound so easy, so simple. How is he supposed to even try to figure out what he really wants when he has no idea where to begin? 

_I know you’re going to be frustrated at that answer,_ Minseok writes right after it, like he can read Baekhyun’s mind. Baekhyun scoffs to himself. _But there’s really no other way I can explain this sort of thing to you._

_You have a lot of ambition and drive, Baekhyun. It’s why you were sorted into Slytherin. I know that there’s something that you’ll find has a special place in your heart when it comes to job options, whether it be something like Quidditch or magic in general. But all these things will affect your choices and decisions. And, maybe more than anything, the people around you will affect your decisions a lot._

_You come from a family of great wizards and witches and I’m sure it’s a lot of pressure on you. You’ve always tended to take too much onto your own shoulders. But this is something that you should consider for yourself the most. A job should be something you enjoy and are passionate about, not something you think will make someone else proud._

For a moment, a picture flashes across Baekhyun’s mind, unbidden. It’s filled with his friends and family, all the people he holds dear - but of them all, his mother and father stand out the most, their expectant gazes and hopeful anticipation for what he'll decide to do in the future and suddenly he feels like throwing up.

This is him being dramatic, isn't it?

Baekhyun swallows the bile and forces himself to take deep breaths. He's been worrying about this for far too long, far too much over the past two months, and it's come to a point where he can't look at his professors without flinching and thinking about his job options and the career paths everyone seems to expect from him.

_I don’t have too much time to be talking about much else. We’ll be meeting for Christmas though, right? You can talk to me for as long as you want then, but I have examinations and trial missions for the next two months until break._

_And as for Jongdae - I’ve been trying not to contact him too much, I’m afraid I’ll spoil my own Christmas present for him. I have yours in mind too, by the way. Tell Jongdae and Sehun that I love them._

_Love, Minseok._

Frustration at the letter hits Baekhyun almost like a freight train and he rubs his temples. It would be so much easier if he was forced into a job, Baekhyun thinks bitterly. Instead of floundering around for anything he might have an interest in. At least then he’d have no excuse not to work hard no matter what it is.

He wonders if now isn’t too late to ask one of his uncles to bring Baekhyun along on his world travels. Maybe that would help.

  


  
“What are you going into when we graduate?” Baekhyun ends up asking Chanyeol. Chanyeol looks up from the paper he’s writing.

“Hmm?”

They’d gone to Hagrid’s hut for a while, just to check up on Loey, but it had gotten dark so quickly that Chanyeol seemed to have picked up on Baekhyun’s unease and suggested they go back to the castle and study together instead.

Not that Baekhyun’s studying much.

There’s too much floating around his head. Too many complicated thoughts and feelings and really, Chanyeol isn’t making it any better, nor are Madam Pince’s loud hisses and shushing at the other students to be quiet in the library. At one point in the past hour, Baekhyun had jolted at Chanyeol’s sneeze just to realize he’d been reading the same line in his Potions textbook for the past fifteen minutes.

“Is there anything you want to do in particular?” Baekhyun specifies.

“I’ve taken the NEWTs favorable for the magizoologist application,” Chanyeol says. “Why?”

“Just wondering,” Baekhyun says, not knowing what it is that’s making his stomach sink. So Chanyeol also knows exactly what he wants to do in the future. It honestly doesn't surprise him. Chanyeol is, after all, the type of person to be absolutely driven and go through with anything until he reaches the goal in mind.

Baekhyun breathes out a little. Magizoolist, huh. He’s not sure exactly why he’s surprised.

“What if it doesn’t work out?” Baekhyun can’t help but ask. “What will you do then?”

Chanyeol smiles and shrugs. “I haven’t really thought about that. But I’ve wanted to work with magical animals since I was a child,” he admits quietly, almost like he’s sharing a secret. “And, I mean, my sister works at a dragon sanctuary, so it might also be her influence. You know her, right?”

Baekhyun nods, though he doesn’t really understand how this is answering his question. Park Yoora. She’s three years older than Chanyeol, so it’s been a while since she graduated, but she’d been a legend when she was at the school. Pretty, smart, and wicked fast on the broom. It’s easy to see the similarities between them. 

“We’re from a Muggle family,” Chanyeol continues, “so it’s not like we’ve really known about anything from the wizard world, but ever since I was little I seemed to have a thing for animals that I couldn’t explain. Strange creatures would appear by me when I was with my sister in our backyard, but they’d disappear whenever I tried to show my parents and eventually I thought they were imaginary. Little animals only Yoora and I could see.”

His voice turns into a mix of fond nostalgia. “When I first came here, everything was new and disorienting. Yoora could help, since she’d been here a while, but I couldn’t depend on her forever. There was one night when I felt so alone and scared, that I ended up running to the Forbidden Forest.” He laughs. “Stupid of me, I know. And I almost ended up getting mauled by some animal who had gotten frightened at the loud noise I was making. But Yoora found me and managed to calm the animal down, and we sent it off soon after.”

Chanyeol smiles a little. “Ever since then I became more fascinated with magical creatures. I want to help them, whatever they may be, especially the ones who are misunderstood by society. So if I fail, I’ll just have to try over again. Try harder. And if it turns out that it really isn’t for me, I’ll have to go look for another way I can do something.”

The answer makes Baekhyun fall silent for a while.

He hadn’t been expecting something so - personal. It gets to him in ways that he can’t quite explain.

Are they close enough for Chanyeol to share this so easily? And then there’s what Chanyeol said.

_Just try over again. Try harder._

It used to surprise Baekhyun that Chanyeol could easily set his mind to pushing on rather than dwelling on the past, especially since Baekhyun is the type to keep at something long after he should have moved on. But he supposes it’s that mindset that’s made Chanyeol so talented.

Maybe that’s why it’s almost too easy to imagine Chanyeol as a magical creatures specialist. It’s definitely something that matches the level of the Hufflepuff, with all his stubbornness and big heart and insane talent. Baekhyun wonders what he’ll become, too, because despite his years of being from a family as Ministry affiliated as the Byuns, he still doesn’t know what he really wants to do, what impact he wants to make.

He supposes it’s fortunate for them, that Chanyeol and Jongdae know exactly what fields they’re going into. It had been the same way with Minseok and Junmyeon and Yixing. They’d all known. Minseok had a similar passion for fighting towards justice that led him to the Auror ranks, Junmyeon followed his father’s footsteps into the Ministry, and Yixing is working to become a Healer in St. Mungo’s. And they’re still walking the path they chose.

It’s so much easier to push on when there’s a goal to reach for, but Baekhyun doesn’t have that. Instead, all he has is pressure.

The pressure from his teachers, his classmates, and his family; their expectations of him, to become just as great as his relatives. It’s something Baekhyun had only felt the true gravity of once he took his OWLS in fifth year and came back with near-perfect scores. With the first practice NEWTS coming up in a week, all he feels is dread and nerves. 

Baekhyun scoffs to himself.

Maybe he should fail them all. Lower his family’s expectations so they won’t be disappointed when the real thing comes around next spring.

But he can’t even do that either, because otherwise he’d be taken off the Quidditch team.

Bloody hell.

“Baekhyun?”

Baekhyun blinks as he looks up, regaining awareness of his surroundings.

Oh right. He isn't alone. He's in the library. With Chanyeol. 

Said Hufflepuff is looking at him with some mixture of concern and curiosity, the paper he’d previously been writing up gone and replaced with a book. He must have zoned out for a while. “What?”

“You looked very stressed,” Chanyeol says. “Is something wrong?”

Baekhyun shakes his head. “It’s nothing. You should hurry up, it’s almost curfew.”

Chanyeol clearly isn’t convinced, but he says nothing as he places a careful bookmark into the page he’d been on and starts cleaning up. Baekhyun leaves him to it. He takes the time to stand by the entrance instead, needing a slight breather. He starts walking as soon as he feels Chanyeol’s warm presence by his side. It’s strange, that he doesn’t even need to see to know that Chanyeol is right there next to him. 

They walk slowly.

The portraits on the walls peek an eye open as they pass by, and other students who had been rushing to get to their rooms in time also pause to stare at them. It’s strange though - Baekhyun isn’t nearly as bothered at the attention as he had been a month ago.

They’re silent for most of their way downstairs, and in the blink of an eye they’re already at the basement corridors. Soon Baekhyun will have to go down to the Dungeon and Chanyeol to the right where the Hufflepuff Commons is. And for a moment it seems like Chanyeol's going to let him go without pressing the issue from earlier, but a gentle hand touches Baekhyun's arm and he would have jumped if not for the familiarity of the contact. 

A part of his brain stores that information for later, much later when he’s alone in his room and Chanyeol isn’t near him to mess with his head. The fact that Chanyeol had, somehow, become close enough with him that Baekhyun’s instincts didn’t automatically push away.

He still isn’t pushing away. Baekhyun is painfully, terribly aware of the warmth of Chanyeol’s hand that seeps through to his elbow, and he fears the expression on his face will be all-too recognizable.

If Chanyeol sees it, he says nothing.

“You can tell me, you know,” Chanyeol says instead. He laughs when Baekhyun looks up at him and raises a brow. “Whatever it was that made you frown like that. We’re friends, right?”

This is the million galleon question, isn’t it.

Baekhyun had mulled over their strange dynamic for the past week and tried to avoid Jongdae and Sehun’s inquiries for longer than that but with Chanyeol smiling down at him, head tilted in question even though he looks like he already knows the answer, his reply comes so easily.

“I suppose so.”

  


  
The Slytherin table feels the most full Baekhyun’s ever seen it. 

When he and Sehun first came down for the Halloween Feast, there had only been a few other kids sitting at the tables. Then Jongdae had come. And then Chanyeol and Kyungsoo joined them, Jongin rushing in after a few minutes as well.

It’s only three extra people than usual, Baekhyun reminds himself. But with Chanyeol’s warmth and laughter next to him, Sehun’s snark tamed down by Jongin’s presence, Jongdae’s smile brightened by a fellow Ravenclaw, it seems like so much more.

Maybe it's just his stupid sentimental side. It's his last Halloween at Hogwarts, after all. The last time he'll be at the Slytherin table, watching the bats fly around above their heads and the candles replaced by small pumpkin Jack-o-lanterns, listening to his Housemates and laughing with Jongdae and Sehun.

He doesn't get to feel nostalgic for long. Cups of pumpkin juice are shared around, treacle tarts handed out, and they all stuff themselves with enough chocolate that they're too full to move.

They go around telling stories of each other, of memories from their youth, the time Jongin fell off the broomstick during third year, the time Sehun crashed into him in their fourth, similar instances when Baekhyun almost collided with Chanyeol while playing, recollections from their first years at Hogwarts, and Chanyeol laughs loudly when Jongdae and Sehun coerce Baekhyun into explaining the owls from a few weeks ago.

For a while, his heart feels just as full.

  


  
It lasts about as long as it takes for reality to hit.

The NEWTS practice exams had come and gone.

It had taken advice from his Head of House and the Headmistress, and eventually Baekhyun had ended up signing up for every subject he has NEWT level knowledge in. All the core classes, and then Advanced Arithmancy and Ancient Runes. It’s a bit much, but Baekhyun hadn't thought he’d do too poorly. If only Flying was a subject offered for the NEWTS. Chanyeol had laughed when he found Baekhyun, Jongin, and Sehun mulling over bottled butterbeer and muttering about the unfairness of the world.

Still, he'd worked hard.

For the entire two weeks until the tests, Baekhyun had buried himself in studies. There were the brief times he allowed himself a breath of fresh air or a quick mount on his broom, but those were few and in between. He'd even asked Jongdae and his professors for other materials, tried to spend more time in the library than in the air.

Baekhyun had thought that he’d feel better, once he was done with the practice exams. 

And to an extent, the tests had been helpful. He knows now what subjects he’s prepared for and what subjects he needs to study. He’s doing alright in Advanced Arithmancy, Ancient Runes, and Potions. Charms and Defense Against the Dark Arts have always been his strong point, so he isn’t worried about those either. Herbology and Transfiguration need a lot more work. 

But the sinking feeling in his gut had only gotten worse.

Even worse is the fact that the first of the games is tomorrow. Slytherin versus Gryffindor. Baekhyun is hardly ever nervous for Quidditch matches, but this one brings with it butterflies in his stomach and makes his insides bunch up.

Baekhyun can’t explain it, even to himself. It’s a mixture between fear, anxiety, desperation, and hopelessness. He wants, but he doesn’t know what he wants. He has too much ambition but nothing to work towards. He feels like he’s drowning in a vast, endless pool of water he has no way to escape from, but another part of him also worries he’s being overdramatic. After all, don’t most students go through similar troubles? Don’t most people think about the same things?

As much as Baekhyun had tried to brush off the sense that something’s off about himself, he couldn't really get rid of the feeling, nor could he figure out what it is.

And his teacher is talking about the tests even now, talking about how they can influence how future occupations look at an applicant.

"Most jobs only require OWLS," she's saying up in the front, "but the more specialized jobs need NEWT level experience due to the selective abilities needed -"

What is all this for?

What's the point, if he can't be the best?

How disappointed would his family be?

Suddenly finding himself getting short of breath and feeling like the walls of the classroom are far too small, far too stifling, Baekhyun mutters out an excuse for the nurse and slips out of the door before anyone can react, uncaring what the others in the classroom might think. 

His feet lead him blindly. This is a castle that he’s lived in for the better part of conscious youth, and his instincts kick in, recognizing that his brain isn’t functioning properly at the moment. He doesn't realize where they've brought him until a gust of cold air makes him realize he's outside, and he looks up, recognizing this place as the backdoors of Hogwarts.

Figures. This had been his hiding place for most of his years here, a place even Junmyeon couldn’t find to scold him about staying outside when he should have been patrolling the halls.

It’s a place that hardly anyone ever comes to. It means he can be alone. 

Clouds roll by.

He’s sure classes are over by now. The bell tower tolls, but Baekhyun can’t count the chimes.

They gather into angry grey seas.

Maybe it’ll rain. It’s getting cold.

The sky darkens.

Has Quidditch practice begun or ended yet? Are Jongdae and Sehun worried?

The temperature drops even more.

They must be, but Baekhyun can’t find it in himself to care much.

He doesn’t realize it’s started raining until he’s soaking.

It’s a heavy storm, one of those storms that sweeps away everything in its path. Baekhyun sees the dead orange leaves on the floor getting washed down the hills and into the lower parts of Hogwarts’ grounds, thick drops splattering over the trees and bearing down on their branches, blurring his sight and the world in front of him.

The sounds of the storm pitter away to the background, a sound that he registers but doesn’t really hear. The dirt under his feet feels like sludge, the rain is so cold that it numbs his skin.

A strange emptiness spreads over his body, chilling his bones. He almost feels hollow.

The world crashes back down around him with a call of his name.

“Baekhyun?” 

The numb is going away. His skin is wet and freezing, and his breaths are shallow. Baekhyun turns around just as Chanyeol steps into the clearing. 

“Baekhyun, what the hell, it’s bloody raining cats and dogs,” Chanyeol runs over, “do you know how long we’ve been searching for you? No one knew where you’d gone and you didn’t show up to class or practice and _Merlin_ we were so -”

Chanyeol trails off when Baekhyun doesn’t respond. He's closer, and Baekhyun can hear how hard he's breathing, harsh and irregular. He must have been running for a while. Baekhyun looks up, but he can't see Chanyeol too well right now. Everything is blurry. The only thing that stands out is his pink hair against the dark sky.

"I - Baekhyun,” The tone shifts to alarm and shock. “Baekhyun, you’re crying.”

Is he?

Chanyeol moves closer, brushing Baekhyun’s sopping hair away from his face. He’s getting wet, Baekhyun wants to say, looking at the drops that fall onto Chanyeol’s face, wants to protest the way Chanyeol is shielding him from the rain. His voice won’t work. Chanyeol seems to realize this, because he scans over Baekhyun’s face and tugs him back to the umbrella of Hogwarts’ walls.

“Hey,” Chanyeol says, taking Baekhyun’s hand, “Talk to me. Are you alright?”

Baekhyun breathes in and blinks, realizing only once the tears fall that they’d been blurring his vision.

No.

Baekhyun opens his mouth to lie and ends up letting out a gasping sob.

Almost immediately Chanyeol’s arms come around him, pulling Baekhyun into his chest, letting him hide his face into the collar of Chanyeol’s robes as he cries for the first time in years. His hand is warm on the back of Baekhyun’s neck, the other running up and down his back in a soothing motion. He’s so warm, and somehow it just makes Baekhyun cry harder.

Everything he’d been hiding, everything he’d tried to press down and ignore from the beginning of the year comes tumbling out with Chanyeol, his fears, anxiety, the shame he feels from being so insecure. 

It's frustrating. He didn't want to cry about this, didn't want to seem more dramatic than he had been already. 

“I’m right here,” Chanyeol’s whispering, softly, gently, patient and calm the way he always is. “Let it out.”

They stay that way for a while. Chanyeol doesn’t loosen his hold on Baekhyun in the slightest despite how cold and wet Baekhyun must feel, and he's grateful for that, too. He thinks he would have slipped away again if Chanyeol hadn’t been there to ground him.

When his cries get softer and his breaths aren’t as shallow, Chanyeol pulls away just enough to brush his thumbs over the last of Baekhyun’s tears, warm. So warm.

“Come on, you’re going to catch a cold,” Chanyeol says gently. He pulls Baekhyun further into the castle, away from the backdoors and into the warmer corridors. Baekhyun doesn’t resist.

They’re the only two in the halls. Their footsteps are loud against the floors but the rain has faded to background noise, the thick stone layers between them muffling its loud thunder. Chanyeol takes Baekhyun to a corner of the hall and has him lean on the ledge. It makes him feel even smaller than he had already. 

“You really scared us,” Chanyeol says. He’s frowning. Baekhyun hates that he's the reason. “Jongdae and Sehun are worried sick, you know.”

The rain is pelting down onto the window behind him. Baekhyun’s heart is still doing flips in his chest. He doesn’t think he can make himself talk, but Chanyeol doesn’t push for it. Instead, he waves his wand in a series of swirls and then hot air starts streaming from the tip, making Baekhyun’s robes steam and start drying. A full body shiver runs through Baekhyun at the sudden warmth. He hadn’t realized how cold he was.

“Jongdae said he hadn’t seen you during your last class and Sehun and your Captain were panicking because you didn’t show up for Quidditch practice,” Chanyeol says quietly. He points his wand at Baekhyun’s hair and runs his fingers through the strands as hot air blows into his roots, letting the rainwater drip down to the side. “No one knew where you went, and the last anyone saw of you was hours ago when you ran out of class. All five of us were running around to try finding you. Jongin was almost as scared as Sehun.”

Seeing to deem his hair dry enough, Chanyeol waves his wand again and the stream of hot air cuts off. 

“Baekhyun, look at me.” Slipping his wand into his pocket, Chanyeol takes one hand to grasp Baekhyun’s, the other lifting to tilt Baekhyun’s chin up.

“Are you okay?” Chanyeol asks, still holding onto Baekhyun. His eyes are soft. “Do you feel better now?”

Baekhyun forces himself to nod, to speak. “Yeah.” His voice wavers a little with how much he’s been crying, but it’s not a lie. Chanyeol smiles in relief. “Thanks.”

“Can I ask what made you so upset?” 

And this time, Baekhyun hesitates.

He’ll sound stupid, he’s sure, worrying so much about the future when he can't even fix his mess right now. But Chanyeol is so grounding in front of him, such a stabilizing presence. Baekhyun swallows down his nerves.

“I’m scared,” he gets out. Well, it’s a start.

Chanyeol tilts his head. "About what?"

_About what._

It'd be easier listing what he’s not afraid of. 

Baekhyun sighs. "Just, everything. What I'm going to do in the future, how I'm going to live up to my family's expectations." He runs a hand down his face. "The breaking point was when I remembered the Quidditch match tomorrow. Which sounds stupid, but I was under so much stress because of everything else that I -"

"That's not stupid," Chanyeol says, not letting him finish. He grips both Baekhyun's hands tightly to his chest and Baekhyun looks up at him, almost overwhelmed by how earnest and concerned Chanyeol is. "Really. It's not stupid to be scared of something. So don't brush off your own feelings just because you think they're trivial."

The assurance almost make a fresh wave of tears threaten whatever shambles of Baekhyun's pride are left. He pushes them down. 

“It’s just hard,” Baekhyun says hoarsely. “I don’t know what I’m doing half the time. It’s almost winter and I have no idea what field I want to go into or what kind of jobs I’d be interested in. Head Boy duties are exhausting, and then there’s Quidditch and all my teammates are anxious but they look at me because I’m a seventh-year, and the people I go to for help give me advice that I don’t understand. What am I supposed to do?”

Chanyeol is quiet for a while.

“The way I think of it,” Chanyeol says slowly, and it’s obvious how careful he’s being with his words, “Instead of focusing on pressure, I try to see the people around me as support. Like, I’m not going through all this alone.”

He sits down on the ledge beside Baekhyun, but his hand still holds on, almost completely enveloping Baekhyun’s. “There will be people who take care of me and help me along no matter where I go. Some of them might show their support in different ways, but they just want the best for me. What’s important is how I choose to respond to them and my own circumstances. And to be happy!” Even without looking at him, Baekhyun can tell Chanyeol is smiling. “In the end, that’s all that matters.”

Chanyeol’s words hit him like Bludger. Baekhyun’s still fumbling for what to say when he looks up, only to see Chanyeol smiling down at him.

“We’re all here for you,” he says, a little more quietly. “I am, too. Whenever you need me.”

There’s a lot Chanyeol is saying that makes Baekhyun either speechless or tempted to bury his face back in his chest.

He just wipes his tears away and tries to smile back.

And just in time, too, because footsteps are echoing in the corridor and then there are shouts of both their names, four people running down the hall all at once.

“Baekhyun!”

Turning to face the voice, Baekhyun doesn't even get the chance to get a word out before someone tackles him.

"Hyung!" Jongin exclaims, arms wrapping around his neck and gripping so much tighter than Chanyeol had. Baekhyun feels like all the air has been physically punched out of his lungs, and wonders if the lack of oxygen is making him imagine Chanyeol laughing next to him. "Hyung, are you alright, we were so worried -"

"Whoa hey, let him breathe," Sehun's voice comes next, though Baekhyun thinks he's just annoyed Jongin is being so affectionate to him. 

Jongin leans back enough to look at Baekhyun, and Baekhyun’s too busy trying to get air back into his lungs and he doesn’t feel Jongin freezing up above him.

His voice is panicked when he speaks again. “Hyung, did you cry?”

“Tell the whole school while you’re at it, why don’t you,” Baekhyun grumbles, trying to turn his face away but Jongin doesn’t let him, cupping his cheeks. He can’t see Chanyeol, but he’s sure this time that the Hufflepuff is giggling next to him.

“Are you okay now, hyung?”

“Yes, Jongin, I’m -”

“Oh stop it, he’s fine,” Sehun snaps from behind Jongin, and Baekhyun almost chuckles at the confused look Jongin shoots to Sehun at his irritated tone. Still, Jongin pulls away reluctantly and settles for clinging onto Baekhyun’s arm, and Sehun gazes down at Baekhyun like he’s not sure whether to hug him or not, conflict scrunching up his features.

Baekhyun laughs quietly. “You can stand to put away the Ice Prince title for once, Sehun.”

Sehun mutters a few inaudible complaints at the words, but he wraps Baekhyun in a warm, familiar cocoon anyway.

“I didn’t know what to think,” Sehun muffles into Baekhyun’s hair. He sounds like he’s pouting. “You never miss Quidditch practice, and you always tell someone when you’re about to go off flying in the Forbidden Forest so when you disappeared for hours and no one could tell us where you went...” Sehun pulls away, and Baekhyun notes with amusement that he is, in fact, pouting. “Don’t scare us like that again.”

“Ditto that,” Jongdae says, walking over with Kyungsoo at a slower pace. Sehun and Jongin must have been the ones running. He lifts a hand in greeting, and Kyungsoo smiles to Baekhyun warmly.

Baekhyun smiles back.

“Thanks for this,” he starts, “but one more sentimental thing and I’m going to puke.”

Jongdae laughs loudly. “There’s the Slytherin.”

Over Sehun’s head, Chanyeol gives Baekhyun a smile.

“Go win that game tomorrow,” he says, just loud enough for Baekhyun to hear over the sounds of Jongin and Sehun starting yet another argument.

Baekhyun smiles. “You’ll regret that once you need to deal with us.”

  


  
The first game of the year comes with a frosty morning and just as frosty brooms.

The annoyance Baekhyun normally would have felt isn’t really there though, as Yunji pulls him to the side and lets him escape the prying eyes of the rest of their team.

“Are you okay?” She asks lowly. She isn’t angry, Baekhyun can tell, just worried. “Sehun just told me you weren’t feeling well yesterday.”

He smiles back at her. “I’m sorry about that. I didn’t mean to be irresponsible.”

The concern in Yunji’s eyes doesn’t fade. 

“I was worried, you know,” she says. “You’d been acting off for a while but not showing off to practice…” she trails off. “It was sudden. But if you’re better, I suppose that’s fine. You can fly today, right? We’ll need you to go against Gryffindor.”

Baekhyun smiles. “Much better. Good enough to win.”

Yunji’s expression relaxes at his conviction, and she pats his shoulder.

“Then I trust you. Let’s go start the year off with a bang.”

They get exactly five minutes to warm up their brooms and get ready before they need to meet the other team out on the pitch. This is the first game of the year, and having it with Gryffindor - Baekhyun feels a thrum of anticipation in his blood at the thought. 

Walking out on the pitch, he meets eyes with Jongin, who smiles at him and Sehun, gaze lingering on the latter. Sehun also stiffens a little, and Baekhyun almost laughs aloud. 

Funny thing, their rivalry.

Their Captains shake hands. Madam Hooch blows the whistle. The Quaffle is up in the air, and then - it’s on.

The first goal happens in the blink of an eye. Gryffindor’s Captain and Lead Chaser get the Quaffle, shooting straight for the Slytherin goalposts. They score and get ten points, and as soon as it’s passed through the goal, Baekhyun races down to catch it coming down from the other end, tossing it over to his teammate as he ducks to avoid a Bludger.

“Ten points for Gryffindor!” Jaemin yells over the speakers, “In less than five minutes, too! Oh, but Slytherin’s got the Quaffle right now, Park is flying, Byun right next to her, bloody Merlin that was a close call with that Bludger, she tosses it back to Byun and there he goes, our legendary Chaser, Byun shoots, and… Ten points for Slytherin! They’ve caught right on!”

The game’s only just started, but it’s picked up pace already. The students are screaming out on the stands, bleachers rippling red and green. The first game of the year. Baekhyun can’t help but grin at the energy.

Use the momentum, he mutters to himself.

They’re going to win.

Over the next half hour, Gryffindor gains the upper hand and a thirty point lead. Yunji calls for a break and gathers all of them for a quick pep talk, yelling at their Keeper to focus. The Beaters are sent off 

Rounding the pitch in a victory lap, Baekhyun waves at the Slytherin side and glances up at the stands, only for his eyes to catch on a small group. He’s warmed to the roots of his hair by what he sees.

Chanyeol, wearing Slytherin colors as Jongdae and Kyungsoo hold onto a sign next to him with Baekhyun, Jongin, and Sehun’s names on it. The students near them look visibly confused at the support of three people on opposing teams, but none of them seem to care. Noticing Baekhyun looking their way, Chanyeol smiles and waves his wand a little, and Baekhyun’s cheeks flush red when he reads what Chanyeol has written in the air.

_I’m betting on you, Byun._

  


  
Slytherin’s celebratory party is a small one, filled mostly with teammates and their immediate friends.

This is only the first game of the year. They need to win a lot more if they’re going for the Cup. 

Sehun leans against Baekhyun contentedly on the couch, and they watch as Jackson shares his dramatic recalls of what actually happened in the game to riveted first years. 

“Don’t believe everything he says,” Sehun calls at one point, laughing when Jackson makes a face at him.

Baekhyun keeps his eye over the team for a while afterwards, watches as Yunji gets clapped on the back by their other classmates and Lucas shies away from the attention of their older players. He smiles slightly. It’s getting a little too crowded for his tastes and he wants to leave, but he hasn’t said a word to them yet and he doesn’t know if he’ll be able to after he comes back. 

He relays his congratulations to his Captain first, sneaking up behind her and tapping her opposite shoulder. She jerks at the sudden touch, but turns and smiles at the look on his face. They’ve played with each other for five years. They don’t need words.

He goes to Lucas next. The kid is so nervous that he doesn’t realize Baekhyun is there until he speaks, crouching in front of him. 

“Hey,” Baekhyun says, and it’s a little amusing, how Lucas jumps in his seat and his eyes go wide at Baekhyun’s presence. “You played really well today, especially for your first game.”

Lucas smiles bashfully. “Really?”

He did. He scored five goals today against the Gryffindor Keeper, a fifth year with twice his body mass. It’s certainly more than Baekhyun had expected.

Baekhyun smiles back. “Yeah, really.”

It takes a while even afterwards for Baekhyun to leave the Slytherin commons. He’s greeted by Housemates all throughout the walk across the room, patted on the back and cheered for. Sehun glances up at him curiously as Baekhyun bypasses the couch, and he leans over from behind to ruffle Sehun’s hair. 

“I’ll be out for a while,” he tells Sehun quietly, and gets a nod from the younger before he slips away.

The halls are deceptively quiet as he walks down them, bypassing everything to go to the Astronomy Tower. 

As he’d expected, a silhouette of a person is already sitting by a window’s ledge, head tilted up to gaze at the stars. The light from the moon hits down on their head, setting it aflame.

Baekhyun smiles.

“You dyed your hair again?” He asks softly, to make his presence known as he steps over to the ledge.

Chanyeol turns back with a jolt and smiles when he recognizes Baekhyun.

“Yeah,” he says, touching the red strands. He grins up at Baekhyun cheekily. “Do you like it?”

If Baekhyun was a more honest man, he would have said yes. Because Chanyeol looks nothing short of beautiful like this, flaming halo of hair falling down on his forehead and set on fire with the light of the moon. Instead, he rolls his eyes. “I’d normally be pissed about it being Gryffindor colors,” Baekhyun says, sitting down next to Chanyeol. A pleasant thrum of warmth envelopes him and he realizes Chanyeol has cast a heating charm over the area. “But you look good so I’ll let it pass.”

“Should I do green next time?”

“I don’t think anyone can pull off green.”

It had been close enough with the pink, anyway. Baekhyun still thinks Chanyeol is one of the few people in the world who can wear pink with yellow and black stripes and make it look anything but horrendous.

Chanyeol laughs. “Congratulations on the win.”

Baekhyun joins him in looking up at the stars. “Couldn’t have done it without you.”

He feels Chanyeol turn to pin his gaze on him, but Baekhyun doesn’t look back at him just yet.

“Are you okay?” He asks, a little more quietly, and it’s clear he’s not talking about the game.

Baekhyun doesn’t answer for a moment.

Winning felt great, but he’s still conflicted. On what to do, what to become, how to explain things to his family. And yet, there’s a difference between the confusion he’d felt a day ago to the confusion he feels now. If the previous war of emotions was based more on terror and shame, this one is more nervous, scared and eager all at once. 

“Better,” he says at last. It’s the most he could ask for. And when Chanyeol reaches over and squeezes his hand, Baekhyun takes the opening to scoot closer, leaning his head on Chanyeol’s shoulder. Chanyeol freezes for just a moment before he leans down, angling himself so he’s more comfortable.

The air is cold, but the heating charm, as well as Chanyeol’s warmth next to him, lulls Baekhyun to a state of comfort that he hadn’t felt since he was a child. He thinks he knows what the strange flutters in his chest mean now, what to name this fragile emotion that bubbles up his chest at the sight of the Hufflepuff.

“Thank you,” he whispers into Chanyeol’s collar.

Chanyeol hums and rests his head on top of Baekhyun’s.  
  


  


“So,” Baekhyun starts, lips twitching in amusement at the expression on Sehun’s face. He looks disgruntled, embarrassed, and desperate all at once, and there’s only one person who could have made him so troubled. “What’s the reason you pulled me over in the middle of rounds?”

“Oh come on,” Baekhyun says, “it must be something if you’re this miffed.”

“I’m not _miffed_ ,” Sehun snaps. Baekhyun smiles at him and Sehun turns away, pursing his lips.

“Jongin,” he says thinly. As expected. Baekhyun lets out a laugh at the source of Sehun’s frustrations. 

“I’m not making fun of you,” he chuckles out when Sehun glowers. “But what about him?”

Blowing some of his hair away from his face, Sehun crosses his arms. “I just,” he sighs, “I have no idea what to do around him. He’s just so natural,” Sehun scrunches his face up, “and nice. He always seems to know what I’m thinking or what I want to say. It’s so weird.”

Baekhyun just smiles at him. He can't help it.

"You're so cute," he says, and watches as Sehun's cheeks flush red, smile widening as he takes in a figure approaching the two of them from down the hall. 

"Who's so cute?"

Sehun nearly splutters, twisting around as Jongin leans over his shoulder. 

"What are you doing out here?" 

"I was excused from the Hospital Wing," Jongin says cheerfully, flicking a hand to reveal a signed slip from Madam Pomfrey.

Sehun frowns. "You were in the Hospital Wing?"

"Bad crash during practice," Jongin shrugs.

Baekhyun has to work to hide the chuckles rising from his throat. "I'll finish up my rounds here myself," he tells the two of them, "Sehun why don't you walk Jongin back?"

Sehun jolts in surprise. "But hyung -"

"Just go," Baekhyun says, and coupled with Jongin's expectant gaze, it's obvious that Sehun's fighting a losing battle. "I can brief you on tomorrow's schedule later."

The rest of his protests are buried as Baekhyun shoos both of them away. They've just turned the corner of the hall - Sehun's mutters of how far the Gryffindor Tower still audible - when Jongdae comes up beside Baekhyun and nudges his shoulder. 

“They look happy,” he says, crossing his arms.

Baekhyun smiles. “They do.”

For a moment Jongdae observes him quietly, then chuckles. “So do you.”

Baekhyun turns to him and frowns. “What?”

“You know, I didn’t ask you about the incident a week ago because I thought it’d make you uncomfortable,” Jongdae says, and Baekhyun flinches, even with the utter lack of accusatory tones in Jongdae’s voice. “But I’m your best friend. I could piece it together well enough.”

Jongdae slings an arm over Baekhyun’s shoulders. “You look a lot better.”

Baekhyun lets himself lean into it. Slowly, they make their way over the rest of the fifth floor corridors. “I’m getting there.”

  


  
“I’m still hungry,” Sehun complains as they walk.

Jongin keeps his grip around Sehun’s arm and doesn’t let go. “It’s not my fault you didn’t eat quickly.”

“It’s your fault we’re going early. There’s still half an hour before the game starts.”

“I want good seats,” Jongin whines to Sehun, and Baekhyun holds back a snort when Sehun’s cheeks redden at the Gryffindor’s proximity. “They’re going to be full if we’re late.”

“Well we won’t be late, because there’s still _half an hour left_ -”

“Jongin takes his cheerleading duties very seriously,” Baekhyun comments to Kyungsoo as Sehun and Jongin continue bickering, and he gets a small smile from the younger.

“He’s always like that,” Kyungsoo says. “So earnest. And kind. He looks up to Chanyeol a lot, which is also why he gets like this for all his games.” He pauses. “Except the ones when they’re playing against each other.”

Jongdae smiles. “He’s cute.”

Baekhyun agrees. He’d have talked more about it on any other time, too, but today he’s a little distracted, hand slipping into his pocket just to smooth over the fabric and the weight sitting beneath its layers.

When he'd asked Kyungsoo what Chanyeol could want for his birthday, he'd been expecting something maybe a little more materialistic. He hadn't been prepared to flounder when Kyungsoo shrugged and told him, _"He loves music."_

But he's got a good enough gift. He thinks. He hopes.

Well, knowing Chanyeol, he'd probably like almost anything, but Baekhyun's still nervous.

He’s brought back to the present by the sounds of Sehun and Jongin still arguing.

“I still can’t believe you hit ten Bludgers at me,” Jongin says, “in twenty minutes!”

“I’m a Beater,” Sehun snips back at him, “That’s what I do. It’s not personal. And you dodged them all anyway.”

“Well it sure seemed personal when you targeted me out of every other person you could have possibly hit _ten_ Bludgers at.”

“You’re the Seeker,” and Baekhyun can hear Sehun rolling his eyes, “Of course I was targeting you. You always catch the Snitch.”

This effectively shuts Jongin up, who recognizes that this is the closest thing to a compliment Sehun will ever give him about his Quidditch skills. If Jongin’s arm tightens around Sehun’s and they walk a little closer together, none of them mention it, even as Jongdae raises his brows at their backs and Baekhyun hides a snicker.

“By the way,” Kyungsoo starts, turning to Baekhyun, “Did you get -”

He’s interrupted when they run into a crowd of people as they turn the corner of the hall, all-too easy to recognize with their yellow-black robes, equipment and brooms held in their hands. They must be heading towards the lockers. Chanyeol perks up at the sight of the five of them, and he leaves the Keeper he’d been talking with to wave wildly.

“Hey, where are you going?” Chanyeol asks, getting closer. “Isn’t this a bit early for the games?”

Jongdae gestures towards Jongin. “He insisted on getting the best seats.”

Chanyeol smiles widely at the Gryffindor. He’s brimming with energy, Baekhyun notes with wry amusement, practically buzzing with it. “I told you you didn’t have to.”

“He insisted,” Sehun repeats a little sulkily, but Jongin pouts at him and he goes silent.

“And you?” Chanyeol turns to Baekhyun, still smiling. His red hair bounces on his head with how he’s moving. “Are you also part of my cheerleading squad?”

Sehun squawks indignantly behind Baekhyun at being reduced to such a thing.

“Just for today,” Baekhyun allows, ignoring Sehun. The small pouch sits heavy in his robe pocket, in his heart. “Happy birthday, Chanyeol.”

Surprise flashes in Chanyeol’s eyes as his excited smile drops for a moment. And when Baekhyun thinks back on it, he wonders if it had been the excitement and energy Chanyeol had that made him so impulsive at that moment. Because less than a second later, he snags Baekhyun’s wrist and then he’s too close and Baekhyun can’t even get a coherent thought in his mind before Chanyeol leans in -

And kisses him.

His lips are chapped and warm and he feels like a livewire.

The kiss is gone as quickly as it’d started.

“What in bloody Merlin’s name -”

Baekhyun doesn’t hear the rest of Sehun’s surprised swearing.

Chanyeol pulls away and smiles at him, the same infuriating little smile he always wears as he whispers something only Baekhyun can catch. Baekhyun feels like his heart’s about to beat out of his chest. Chanyeol just _kissed him_. By the time he doesn’t get to yell at Chanyeol, the Hufflepuff is jogging back to his teammates, ushering them towards the lockers.

Chanyeol just kissed him. 

In front of their friends, the entire Hufflepuff team. 

Right before a bloody Quidditch match.

Baekhyun doesn’t know if it’s the most romantic or the most infuriating thing the Hufflepuff has ever done. And apparently, everyone else is torn.

Next to him, Sehun is gaping. Jongdae is in a similarly shocked state. Kyungsoo hides a smile behind his sleeve. Jongin is giggling and he wraps his arms around Sehun’s shoulders. The Hufflepuff team makes a huge ruckus as they move down the hall, hoots and hollers and confused shouts echoing through the castle. Baekhyun barely hears them all.

Baekhyun reaches up to his lips, burning from the kiss. The tips of his ears are red, he knows for sure, and he can only wonder how flushed his cheeks are.

Chanyeol’s last words are ringing in his ears.

_Root for me._

Baekhyun’s still thinking about the kiss when they’ve gotten to the pitch. True to Jongin’s word, there are people already filing in, taking their places in the stands as the pitch turns into yellow and blue. There are a few students who are still wearing their own Gryffindor or Slytherin colors, but they’re overwhelmingly outnumbered by those that are showing their support for Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw through their clothes.

And then there are the ‘cheerleading squads,’ as Chanyeol had put it.

Next to him, Jongin and Kyungsoo are holding onto a poster that has Chanyeol’s name blasted on the front with Hufflepuff colors. It’s an amusing contrast to Jongdae, who’d worn Ravenclaw colors even while knowing that they’d be joining Kyungsoo and Jongin in the Hufflepuff support bleachers. Baekhyun thinks it’s cute though, especially considering Sehun had also let Jongin wrap a Hufflepuff scarf around his neck, but he’s too busy trying to keep up with the way Chanyeol weaves around the pitch during the practice drills to be paying attention to anything else.

The drills are over after the perfunctory five minutes. The captains meet at the center of the pitch, shaking hands. The players mount their brooms. Madam Hooch blows the whistle, and then the match is on.

The first half goes pretty well. Chanyeol manages to block most of the goals attempted by Ravenclaw. Their Chasers are young, not as experienced, and going against someone like Chanyeol must have been terrifying. Baekhyun gives them points for even trying.

“Yet another point blocked by the almighty Park Chanyol. Bloody Merlin Ravenclaw, can you look _alive_?” Na Jaemin yells over the speakers. The Ravenclaw captain shoots a deadly glare at the kid but he only sticks his tongue out in return. 

The second half is when the wind starts blowing. Gusts of cold November air whirl into the pitch and into the players, knocking some of the younger kids off balance and making the Quaffles lose trajectory. Jongin insists on giving Baekhyun a scarf - in Hufflepuff colors - and it takes an embarrassingly long moment for Baekhyun to realize that the scarf is Chanyeol’s. By the time he’s noticed, it’s too late to give it back. The match continues.

If Hufflepuff’s forte is their impeccable teamwork, Ravenclaw’s is their strategy. They know exactly what should happen at any given time in a match.

But it also means that a large enough disturbance in their plans could mess them up for a while. It won’t work long-term. Ravenclaw has many plans, many possible moves and team ploys that they can use for any situation - but if Hufflepuff manages to thwart their strategies every time, it’ll be disorienting.

So far though, there’s no need for drastic movements from the teams on either side. Hufflepuff still has the lead, but it’s just forty points. Four goals. There’s time for Ravenclaw to catch up, so long as the Snitch isn’t seen anytime soon. The teams seem to realize this, because the pace of the match doesn’t change much over the next half hour.

“Guess who’s going for the most boring match in Hogwarts history,” Jaemin says dryly into the speakers. He gets a massive audience response, some agreements and some offended noises. “Hey, I’m not wrong.”

And he isn’t.

The points go up one by one and Baekhyun thinks even Chanyeol looks a little bored, watching down at the Chasers and Beaters starting a fight below him. There’s nothing really happening, but the most they can hope for is a break in the scores. It’ll be the pushing factor that makes everyone stop worrying about fouls and focus more on the points, but unless the Chasers start giving it their all, the match will never pick up pace.

“Hey, is that the Snitch?” Jaemin says suddenly, and Baekhyun sees the Seekers for both the teams looking around frantically around them, brooms darting this way and that. “Just kidding.”

The school erupts in complaints and Jaemin laughs over the speakers, but Baekhyun tunes it out, leaning forwards in his seat.

There’s a shift in the air now. The wind had been blowing so fiercely one way that the teams had gotten used to its direction and started to anticipate each others’ plays, but there’s a change in its strength and movement. Baekhyun frowns. If the players don’t realize this, they’ll be stumbling for a while until they can grasp the new patterns.

Ironically enough, this shift with the wind is what brings the break. Baekhyun only realizes afterwards that the Ravenclaw Chaser had learned to use the currents to her advantage, letting the wind carry Quaffles further out than her strength alone could have. But the Hufflepuff Beater breaks the Ravenclaws’ formation with a Bludger sent straight to their captain, and while the Ravenclaws flounder with the sudden changes, Hufflepuff furthers their lead. 

The whistle blows for a time-out.

“Dirty move!” Jaemin yells into his mic again. Ravenclaw’s stands boo loudly. “Alright, Hufflepuff is in the lead by eighty points -”

Baekhyun tries to relax back into his seat, but his eyes follow Chanyeol as he gathers his team for a quick talk, trying to read the plans Chanyeol is spelling out, trying not to stare at his lips trying - trying not to think about the kiss.

Hufflepuff has the momentum right now. It’d been broken slightly by the Ravenclaw captain calling for a pause, but the entire school is also shouting and cheering. As long as Hufflepuff uses the drive properly, they’ll have a good chance of winning.

Movement at the corner of Baekhyun’s eye shakes him out of his thoughts, though, and he glances up to see Chanyeol looking straight at him. There’s a glint in his eyes that makes Baekhyun swallow, but he doesn’t linger on the feeling. 

The whistle announces the end of the break and Baekhyun watches as all the players mount their brooms, going up to take position over the pitch. Except one of the brooms circles a little overhead, and Baekhyun catches a smile from Chanyeol that is very clearly meant for him. 

_Root for me._

The rest of the game flashes before his eyes like bullets.

Hufflepuff does use the momentum. Their Beater manages to send a Bludger straight at the Ravenclaw Keeper. It doesn’t hit her, but their Chasers also score a few goals while Ravenclaw flounders with the momentary gap in defense, racking up point after point. Just a little over the three hour mark, Ravenclaw’s Seeker manages to catch the Snitch, but Hufflepuff has gotten enough of a lead that it doesn’t matter.

The crowd erupts into cheers.

Hufflepuff won.

For a few minutes, Baekhyun isn’t sure what to think. 

He’s happy. Happy for Chanyeol. Happy that this means that they’re one step closer to playing against each other. He wants to see Chanyeol, too. Ask if that kiss meant what he thinks it meant.

“Oh go on,” Sehun elbows Baekhyun’s side. He looks up and realizes that the bleachers are emptying, that the teams have already gone off the pitch. “Congratulate your boyfriend, will you?”

For once, Baekhyun doesn’t bother correcting his use of the term boyfriend. He looks to Jongin and Kyungsoo, Jongdae, too, getting smiles and a soft nod in return. It’s all he needs.

Baekhyun turns and runs down the stairs, going around the back and racing through the halls, down the stairs towards the Hufflepuff rooms. His mind is on one thing and one thing only. 

Park Chanyeol.

That seems to be happening with more frequency these days.

Baekhyun gets into the commons with the help of a confused second-year, who visibly gulps at his Head Boy badge and hurries to let him in. The Hufflepuff team is still celebrating their win, gathered in a circle around Chanyeol. Their Beater notices Baekhyun first.

“Captain,” she calls, over the sounds of their younger Chaser crying at his first victory in the pitch, over the congratulations Chanyeol is getting buried under. “I think someone wants to see you.”

Baekhyun is panting from having ran from the pitch all the way to the Hufflepuff commons, but he crosses his arms as Chanyeol turns to face him, trying to put a stern expression on his face. Chanyeol’s eyes dim with nervousness when he meets Baekhyun’s gaze. Good. Better for him to be nervous.

But then, “Uh, Baekhyun,” Chanyeol starts, and Baekhyun’s composure crumbles in two seconds flat.

He laughs.

“You just had to do that in front of your team, did you?” Baekhyun asks, walking up to Chanyeol and flicking his sweat-soaked red hair. “I can’t even be angry at you or I’d be called heartless.”

Chanyeol smiles sheepishly at him. “So you aren’t mad?”

Baekhyun rolls his eyes and pulls Chanyeol down by the lapels of his robes.

The second kiss is better than the first. It feels different, too, but maybe it’s because Baekhyun is the one who leaned in. Chanyeol smiles against his lips, and Baekhyun doesn’t mind that the entirety of the Hufflepuff team and bewildered Housemates are watching and yelling and catcalling them, doesn’t mind that Chanyeol is sweaty and grimy and gross.

Baekhyun pulls away to breathe after a moment, but he ends up chuckling softly. "You're impossible, Park. Congratulations on the win.”

Chanyeol smiles, fingers playing with the Hufflepuff scarf Baekhyun has on.

"I'm honored you let down your Slytherin pride for me."

"It's yours."

"I was wondering why it looked like a shawl on you."

Chanyeol fakes hurt when Baekhyun pinches his arm.

“Get a fucking room,” the Hufflepuff Keeper yells at them.

Chanyeol giggles. He _giggles_.

After a few more congratulatory pats and hugs, and their Beater going up to Chanyeol and nodding his approval - much to Chanyeol’s embarrassment and Baekhyun’s amusement - Baekhyun tugs on Chanyeol’s arm.

“I have a gift for you,” he says, just to see Chanyeol’s eyes widen and a blush coat his cheeks. “Do you want it now?”

“You really didn’t have to,” Chanyeol says, but there’s an eager light in his eyes, like an overexcited puppy. Baekhyun smiles.

“Come on.”

It takes a while to get from the Basement to the Astronomy Tower, but the walk is worth the cold and the time. Chanyeol’s presence is warm next to him, and Baekhyun lets the Hufflepuff entwine their fingers as they make their way up slowly. It's sobering, after their win and all the excitement that came with the Hufflepuff team. 

The small pouch in Baekhyun's pocket feels increasingly heavy, too, but he doesn’t get to linger on his nerves for long.

Next to him, Chanyeol takes his seat on the window ledge and pulls Baekhyun down by his side, casting a quick charm to let them stay warm. Baekhyun takes his offered hand to lower himself onto the stone carefully.

Tonight is another bright night, the moon shining down on them with a soft glow. It makes Chanyeol look more gentle somehow, smoothes out his features and pales his skin in contrast to his red halo of hair. It takes another moment for Baekhyun to jolt out of the staring.

"I know we're meeting over the weekend for an official celebration,” Baekhyun starts, taking out the wrapping from his pocket. Chanyeol turns to him and peers at the gift curiously. “But I thought it would be better to give it to you privately.”

It’s a small thing. It barely spans the length of Chanyeol’s hand, seeming even smaller in the Hufflepuff’s grasp than it had been in Baekhyun’s. Gingerly, Chanyeol unwraps the cloth from the knot at the top, letting it fall away to reveal what’s inside.

Covered with a light glow is the statue of a phoenix, centered around a round, curved base with intricate gold detailing. The bird itself is colored the way a real phoenix is, writhing flames around its wings that are charmed to weave around the entire base and swirl up to the top. It had taken a few burnt cloths and multiple protection charms for Baekhyun to correct the spellwork, but he’d managed in the end. And seeing Chanyeol’s expression now, Baekhyun can’t help but think it’d been worth the work.

“Do you like it?” He asks, after a moment.

Chanyeol’s still staring.

“It’s so beautiful,” Chanyeol whispers, seeming so genuinely awed and surprised that it brings a slight flush to Baekhyun’s own cheeks.

“You can play it,” Baekhyun says, peeking over Chanyeol’s arm. “It’s a music box.”

When Chanyeol tilts his head at him, confused, Baekhyun takes his wand and taps the head of the phoenix. It’s less than a second before the phoenix starts circling, rotating around the base as a gentle melody starts trickling out, the strings of fire dancing with the movement.

If Chanyeol had been awed earlier, he looks simply enraptured now. He looks down at the music box with a soft gaze in his eyes, his hands too big and too bumbling for the small object but handling it as delicately as he can anyway.

“You know,” Chanyeol says suddenly, still looking down at it, “I’ve actually liked you for a while now.”

Baekhyun turns to him and frowns. The melody is still playing. “What?”

“Ever since fifth year,” Chanyeol clarifies. “Since our first real game together, when I became a permanent Keeper out on the pitch.”

Baekhyun blinks. “That’s… a while.”

Chanyeol smiles. "I know. But could you blame me? You were so fast it was dizzying. I couldn't catch half your goals." He chuckles a little, playing with the music box between his fingers. "I was always more conscious of you after that. But I could never make myself talk to you and when we came back this year, I thought for sure that it would pass just like every other year and nothing would change."

Baekhyun slips his hand into Chanyeol's as the song comes to an end, and the strands of fire die down and sink back into the phoenix’s wings.

"I guess we need to thank Loey for this then," he says. Chanyeol laughs.

“Does this mean you’re my boyfriend now?” Chanyeol asks, tone softer. He circles his arms around Baekhyun’s waist and tilts his head, smiling. “Byun Baekhyun, will you date me?”

Baekhyun keeps himself from rolling his eyes, but it’s not because he’s blushing.

It’s _not_.

“I think we’ve established that already.”

Chanyeol laughs again, and Baekhyun steals a kiss.

  


  
The last of the leaves have fallen from their branches. The only green that speckles over Hogwarts are the evergreens.

With the departure of autumn leaves also comes the first real cold front of the year. Sweaters and scarves and gloves have started making more and more appearances, and Baekhyun’s seen Jongdae wearing the padding jacket Junmyeon sent them earlier. Which, Baekhyun frowns, maybe he should have worn today. It’s freezing. Baekhyun shivers and crosses his arms.

"Bloody winters."

Chanyeol laughs beside him. "Winter isn't really here yet, you know. This year's winter officially starts on the twenty-first of December."

Baekhyun stares at him in horror. "What. It's this cold already and you're telling me it isn't even winter yet?"

"Yup. It's still fall. Just wait two weeks."

But even as Baekhyun grimaces, he feels something in his heart lurch at Chanyeol's words. It's his last year at Hogwarts. The place that's taught him almost everything he knows, the place that's given him another family, his second home.

It’s been three months since he and Chanyeol grew closer too, Baekhyun realizes. Time passes so quickly. It feels like just yesterday when he found Chanyeol on the forest floor with a phoenix in his arms.

Three months.

It took him three months to fall for Chanyeol.

His thoughts are interrupted by a familiar warmth swamping over his face, and Baekhyun almost sputters into the scarf wrapping around his head. Chanyeol’s giggles are loud and clear even as Baekhyun tries to stop his ministrations.

“Chanyeol, Yeol-ah you’re going to choke me -”

Eventually though, Chanyeol manages to tie off the scarf at the ends, and Baekhyun has to yank at the top to uncover his eyes and nose.

“Never do that again,” Baekhyun warns, his words muffled by the yellow-black fabric of the scarf. Judging by the smile on Chanyeol’s face, he sounds about as threatening as he feels. “I thought I was going to die.”

“I would never,” Chanyeol insists, but he’s laughing. Baekhyun ends up joining him, and he lets Chanyeol link their fingers together, slipping their joint hands into the pocket of Chanyeol’s robes.

“Come on,” Baekhyun tugs Chanyeol forwards, “We’re already late.”

They meet up with everyone else at the Three Broomsticks, the warmth of the pub hitting them as soon as they open the door.

Settling into the seats, Jongin and Sehun immediately start to complain about their OWLS studies, to which Kyungsoo and Chanyeol smile at them sympathetically. Jongdae just tells the two of them that they shouldn’t open their mouths in front of seventh-years about to take the NEWTs. Sehun and Jongin both pout a little, but they shut up. Chanyeol consoles them by promising to help them study.

They all laugh.

Gifts for Chanyeol’s birthday are passed to him, and all of them get the Hufflepuff to open them up. Jongin’s gotten Chanyeol a book by a magizoologist, Sehun’s bought him broom polish, Kyungsoo’s knitted him a sweater with an elf design, which is apparently an inside joke between them, and Jongdae hands him a different book, charmed to be able to recognize any government-recorded creature.

After Chanyeol’s done swooning over all the presents, Baekhyun invites all of them to the Christmas meeting. He dismisses Kyungsoo’s worries that they might be intruding and assures them that Junmyeon would only be too happy to bring more people into the family. It works out well though, seeing as they’ve mostly known about each other anyway. He’s pretty sure Minseok and Kyungsoo have had Potions clubs together, and Yixing and Chanyeol have been on the Hufflepuff team for five years.

They talk about the gifts they’re thinking of getting for their families, the presents they’ve gotten from their graduated seniors, trying to agree on a date to meet even though they know plans will go virtually nowhere. 

Too many cups of butterbeer later, they head to Honeydukes, picking out candy and sweets to help them last through finals and take home over Christmas. 

For the first time in a while, Baekhyun’s heart is light.

He lets himself talk freely. Laugh loudly. Share brief smiles with Chanyeol whenever Jongin and Sehun are too busy bickering with each other to complain about them acting too couple-y. 

When they get back to Hogwarts, all of them split up. Sehun and Jongin head to the library, Jongdae smiles apologetically at Baekhyun’s offer for dinner and says he needs to see one of his extracurricular professors, Kyungsoo excuses himself with homework, and then it’s just the two of them. Chanyeol still hasn’t let go of Baekhyun’s hand.

“I think I need to go see some of my professors,” Baekhyun says, just as reluctant to part. “And I have a Head Boy and Girl meeting soon.”

Chanyeol leans down and presses his forehead against Baekhyun’s, humming. 

Baekhyun smiles. “Are you tired?”

“A little, yeah,” Chanyeol says softly. But he perks up soon. “I forgot to ask, are you going to Slughorn’s Christmas Party?”

Baekhyun blinks. “I was considering it. Are you?”

Chanyeol nods. “It’s the last one, after all. Will you come as my date?”

_Date_.

Baekhyun tries to hide his smile, but he knows he’s failing. 

“Do you even have to ask?”

  


  
Baekhyun finds Jongdae in the library.

It’s not surprising, but he finds himself smiling fondly at the sight.

“It’s three days until break. Studying for the NEWTs already?” Baekhyun asks Jongdae dryly, slipping into the seat across him. He doesn’t really need an answer. The piles of textbooks and essays are enough of an indication.

“Can’t ever be too prepared,” Jongdae says, eyes not leaving his paper. “I think Kyungsoo and Chanyeol are going to come later. Jongin said he’d bring Sehun.”

“Chanyeol?” Baekhyun asks in surprise, but there’s no answer from Jongdae, and he looks over at the Ravenclaw to see him scribbling furiously over his parchment. Baekhyun goes quiet. Once Jongdae fully concentrates on something, he won’t notice the world burning down around him. And Baekhyun knows he's even busier than most right now.

Jongdae had decided on Argentina to go to for his volunteer field training, and on top of their schoolwork and NEWT studies, he’d started taking a whole other class just to prepare him for the type of Dark Magic and style of spellwork he'll face there. As far as Baekhyun knows, Jongdae needs to be finished with his St. Mungo application overview and his general screening by the end of the week.

Even Jongdae's concentration, however, fails to ignore the chocolate frog Baekhyun places next to him, silent encouragement. Jongdae unwraps it and pops a leg into his mouth unconsciously and smiling, Baekhyun takes out his own assignments and starts writing down all the possible ways a Common Poisons Antidote can be brewed.

True to word, Jongin joins them a while later, greeting Baekhyun with his adorable smile and sitting down next to him. Sehun follows with a disgruntled expression. Jongdae barely seems to notice them. 

“How have you been, hyung?” Jongin asks softly to Baekhyun, taking the hint that Jongdae is busy. His eyes are still sleepy, as usual, and half the books in front of him are about Quidditch. Baekhyun rolls up his Potions essay carefully and sets his quill down. 

“Good. Did you just come back from practice?”

"Yeah, all my muscles are sore." Jongin pouts and loosens his shoulders, but he doesn’t have the chance to say anything else as Sehun turns to him, asking about something in his Charms book. Baekhyun snorts internally. Charms is Sehun’s best class, and he needs no help regarding the subject whatsoever, but he supposes it’s cute. The studying doesn’t last too long for Jongin and Sehun though, as soon enough, they start bickering about something related to Quidditch instead.

Baekhyun can’t help but smile a little at how their group has changed the past month and half. It seems the entire fiasco with Chanyeol has paid off in its own way, with the people he’s gotten close to. Kyungsoo, Jongin, and, even with all the trouble he caused Baekhyun, Chanyeol too. 

Just as he's pondering whether it’s Chanyeol’s effect on him that’s made him so sentimental, there’s a soft knock on the bookshelf circling around their little corner of the library, and Baekhyun lifts his eyes to see Chanyeol and Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo offers him a smile and goes to the seat beside Sehun, and Chanyeol waves with far too much enthusiasm for a Monday evening, motioning something with his hands.

Baekhyun frowns.

“What is it?”

He hadn’t even spoken loudly, but they get a glare from Madam Pince and he winces at her hissing. Chanyeol still isn’t coming over, so it must mean he wants to tell Baekhyun something privately. 

Standing, Baekhyun leaves his stuff but takes his bag, ignoring the curious glance Sehun sends his way.

“Is something wrong?” Baekhyun whispers quietly. When he’s close enough, he realizes Chanyeol is buzzing with excitement.

“Can you come with me for a second?” Chanyeol asks. “I have something to show you.”

Baekhyun shoots him a confused look but acquiesces, ruffling Jongin’s hair when the Gryffindor looks to them with a puzzled expression. They both slip out without further questioning.

The path that Chanyeol leads him down is a familiar one. Down the Hogwarts castle, past the Quidditch pitch, to the part of the Forbidden Forest Baekhyun has gotten increasingly used to the past few weeks. Chanyeol lights his wand with a soft, _lumos_ once they're in the darker thickets.

“Chanyeol,” Baekhyun says carefully. He angles himself closer to Chanyeol in the dark. The lumos spell is helping, but it still isn't too bright to see and he knows lumos maxima will just be a dead giveaway to their location. He's tempted to reach out and grab Chanyeol's arm, but he holds back at the last second. “What is it?”

Chanyeol hushes him. “It’s called a surprise, Baekhyun, I can’t be spoiling it.”

Baekhyun would have rolled his eyes, but the giddiness the Hufflepuff exudes keeps him from doing it. After a few minutes, they reach a familiar clearing, and Baekhyun blinks when he sees that the two trees at its opening have been cloaked with something heavy and dark. Chanyeol motions him over when Baekhyun hesitates at the sight.

"Come on, it won't bite."

"Well I certainly hope it won't," Baekhyun mutters, but after a moment he follows Chanyeol into the curtained area.

For a few moments, it's dark.

And then, it’s like small fireworks exploding before his eyes.

Sparking arrays of molten flames rise up in patterns and swirls, the silhouette of a familiar bird dancing within the fire. It’s so mesmerizing, so ethereal and beautiful, that Baekhyun doesn’t realize Chanyeol has wrapped an arm around his waist until the show is over and he turns, only to see that Chanyeol is right next to him. 

“Did you like it?” Chanyeol asks, eyes shining. “It’s like the music box you gave me come to life. I’m not sure exactly when Loey started playing with fire but -”

Baekhyun doesn’t wait for him to finish. 

Twisting in Chanyeol’s hold, he reaches up and pulls him down against him, slotting their mouths together and wrapping his arms around his neck.

“I loved it,” Baekhyun breathes against Chanyeol’s lips. “It was beautiful.”

An annoyed croon at his side makes him part from Chanyeol briefly though, as he looks down at Loey. The phoenix seems to be saying, _I did all the work_ , and Baekhyun laughs, letting go of Chanyeol with one arm to cradle Loey between them.

“You were beautiful too,” Baekhyun whispers, and Loey lets out a satisfied huff, sparks still flying from his wings. He looks up to Chanyeol and smiles.

“Thank you.”

  


  
He’s not nervous.

He’s _not_.

Two minutes of staring into the mirror, Baekhyun gives up.

It’s a lie, Baekhyun just doesn’t want to admit he’s nervous.

He doesn’t look bad. He knows this. His dress robes fit him well, a deep emerald color that slims at his waist and splays out down to his thighs. But there’s a strange tangle of nerves in his chest, which is weird.

It’s been months since Baekhyun’s gotten comfortable around Chanyeol. He shouldn’t be so nervous for something like this. And it’s not like this is their first Christmas Party together; even if it wasn’t as dates, they’ve seen each other at the party at least five consecutive years. So what’s this?

He doesn’t get to try untangling the knot in his heart before there’s a knock at his door, and Baekhyun frowns, glancing at the clock. 

“You’re five minutes late,” he tells Chanyeol as soon as he opens the door. 

And, well, he’s lucky he got the first word out, because as soon as he fully takes Chanyeol in, he’s more than a little breathless. Chanyeol seems to be wearing a traditional Muggle suit, tailored to fit his long, lean body in every right way. The black looks formal until the bright red head comes into view. It’s beautiful.

“I wanted to see Loey really quickly one last time,” Chanyeol says, smiling. His hair is a little disheveled, and his suit has a streak of dirt, but his eyes are glowing, smile blinding. He’s radiant. _Gorgeous_ , but Baekhyun doesn’t say that.

“You could have gotten caught,” Baekhyun chides instead. He cleans Chanyeol’s suit with a wave of his wand and snorts when Chanyeol’s eyes widen, expression making it clear that he hadn’t even noticed.

“I tried to be careful. I was quick about it, I promise,” Chanyeol tries to smile convincingly. Baekhyun just laughs, letting Chanyeol fully step into his room. As soon as the door closes, his arm circles Baekhyun’s waist and he leans in closer, pulling him into a soft, warm tangle of arms. Baekhyun will never admit how much Chanyeol’s scent always manages to make him melt a little, a mixture of wood and fresh air and a lingering sweetness from something Baekhyun still can’t name.

“You’re such a mess,” Baekhyun mutters, but he’s smiling against Chanyeol’s shirt. “I can’t believe you got dirt on your suit.”

“I’m sorry,” Chanyeol muffles into his hair, before pulling back a little. His eyes twinkle with laughter and mischief and Baekhyun thinks he’s falling for Chanyeol again, that he’ll always be falling just a little more when it comes to Chanyeol. “Can I make it up to you?”

Baekhyun smiles. Whatever he does, he has people who love him right next to him to help him along. He loops his arms around Chanyeol’s shoulders and leans in.

“You can try.”

**Author's Note:**

> sooo i hope you enjoyed baekhyun and chanyeol's story (so far)
> 
> i am very aware that this fic has spanned only september to december, which is why i'm considering writing a second part to this that has the rest of the year as well as the christmas party with junmyeon, minseok, and yixing. however, even if i do write that, it'll be a while before i get it up.
> 
> i also really hope everyone enjoyed the sekai moments and the implied xiuchen!! sekai were so fun to write throughout the whole thing, also gave me a breather whenever chanbaek were giving me a headache. 
> 
> to the prompter, i'm simultaneously so sorry and so grateful - for some reason your single sentence prompt spurred on a 30+K fic and I have no idea how i got here. to Jen, i love you so much, my heart and soul, i'm so sorry i dragged you through this mess.
> 
> kudos and comments are always appreciated, and thank you so much for reading!!!
> 
> ps. stream obsession pls


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